The Marauders of Hogwarts: Year Two
by Hermione21
Summary: This is the sequel to The Marauders of Hogwarts. It's PG just in case I feel like gettin' down with my bad self, hehe. It's got some slight romance, some more odd powers, and some of Voldie too! Chapter 11 is up! I'm back! :D
1. Letters

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The Marauders of Hogwarts: Year Two

A/N: HELLO!!!!!! The awesome Hermione2 is back with Year Two!!! Actually, I'm not really that awesome, and I'm not sure why people review this…but blah.

Anyway, thanks to all the people that reviewed the first year! It means a whole lot to me!!!!! And a special thanks to Koneko, Cutegirl612, and Saphire for being the most loyal reviewers!!!!! Yay!

And just to refresh people's memories (but mostly mine :D), I'm going to just randomly list the Marauders and them: James, Sirius, Remus, Peter (that scum!), Lily, Bella, Fiona, Mira, and…what's her name…is there another one? Oh yeah, Thea! I need to give her more stuff to do in this story; I really don't remember her very well. Let's see…then there's that Ravenclaw, Raven, and one of Mira's other friends…Ella. Be glad, people; Mira's more cheerful this year!!!! ^_^ And who knows, I might put in a little L/J this year…or L/Sirius, who knows, he's fun too…Haha.

And, of course, there is a first story before this one, so if there are any random new people reading this, read the first one. It might all make more sense that way. But if you don't want to, I'll try to make it understandable.

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Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, the best author in the world! All unrecognizable characters, _places, etc. belong to me. Easy enough._

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Chapter 1

Letters

Mira Gonzalez was at her home in the US, having fun with a parrot she'd gotten for her birthday, which had been about a week after she'd come back from Hogwarts.

"OK, say, 'Up your ass!' " Mira had been having fun trying to teach it random things involving words like 'ass.'

The parrot squawked, "Up your ass! Up your ass!"

"Yay!" Mira clapped her hands and sank down on the bed, laughing her head off.

"Dinner! Mira, where are you?" her mother yelled from downstairs.

"Up your ass! Up your ass!" the parrot squawked.

Mira fell off her bed and hit the floor, still in spasms of laughter.

"In--In my room, Mom!" Mira half-gasped, half-yelled down the stairs.

"Are you all right? I heard something fall."

"Oh, yeah, I just, um, dropped something," Mira said, still giggling a little.

"OK."

***

After dinner, Mira went up to her room to find a brown owl perched on the windowsill with a letter tied to its leg.

"About time!" Mira said, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at the owl. The owl blinked and hooted. "Aaah, you're no fun…" Mira said.

Mira walked over to the windowsill and untied the letter from the owl's leg. The envelope was made of yellowish parchment, and there was an address written in emerald green ink:

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Miss M. Gonzalez

The Blue Bedroom

8501 Abilene Drive

Austin

Texas

United States

"These people don't know how to address an envelope," Mira muttered, tearing it open. She read it and smiled, happy she was going back to Hogwarts.

***

Thea Watkins was bored. Very bored. Extremely bored. Awesomely bored. So phenomenally bored that she was ready to scream from her phenomenal boredness…okay, I think you get the point.

Suddenly, while she was lying on her bed chewing gum, an owl flew through the window and knocked over a participation trophy she'd gotten once for playing soccer. 

Sure, it was a cheap trophy (at least it hadn't knocked over the second-place one), but still! Thea jumped up. "WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!?!?!" she yelled, completely hyper all at once.

The owl seemed to look politely puzzled.

"YOU KNOCKED OVER MY TROPHY!!!!!!"

The owl gave her a look that seemed to say, 'Oops.'

"YES, OOPS!!!!"

The owl gave her another look. This one seemed to say, 'Will you shut up and get the letter tied to my leg?'

"Oh, okay," Thea sighed, walking over and untying the letter from the owl's leg. Then, she opened it.

Then, she started dancing around, singing, "I'm going back to Hogwarts, to Hogwarts, to Hogwarts! I'm going back to Hogwarts…WICKED!!!!!"

(A/N: Wicked--favorite word of Ron Weasley's. :D)

***

James Potter woke up in his home in Godric's Hollow. It was a wizarding neighborhood. He got out of bed, opened his window, and was just going to yell, 'WAKE UP!!!' to Sirius Black, who lived next door, when a small feathery thing shot in at the window and nearly hit him in the head.

"What?" he said to nobody, turning around. 

The small feathery thing was an owl, which had dropped a letter in the middle of the floor and was zooming around the ceiling now.

"Ah. Hyperactive owl," he said. "Should have known."

Then, he stuck his head out his window again and yelled, "OY!!!! SIRIUS!!!!!!"

Everyone in the neighborhood was jerked awake…except Sirius.

"SHUT UP, WILL YOU!!!" one of the neighbors yelled.

James ignored the neighbor and yelled even louder, "SIIIIIIIIIIIIRIUUUUUUUUUS!!!!!"

A rotten egg hit the side of his window, barely missing James. 

"THAT WAS FOR YOU, YOU…DISTURBER OF THE PEACE!!!!!" the neighbor screamed.

"ON SECOND THOUGHT…." James yelled, pretending to stop and ducking his head back into his room. Then, he grinned, stuck his head out again, and yelled, "SSSSSSSSSSSSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!"

Sirius' window slammed open and Sirius yelled, "What do you want, James?", just as a tomato hit the other side of James' window.

"Did you get your letter yet? I did!" James yelled, dodging a rotten egg that hit the top of the window. He sighed. At least whoever was throwing these had fairly bad aim.

"Yep. Why are people throwing eggs and tomatoes at you?"

"Long story," James sighed, and slammed his window shut. Just then, a tomato sailed through the air and smashed onto the window, right in the place where his head would have been.

James shook his head and picked his letter up off the floor.

***

Lily Potter woke up--and screamed. An owl was perched right on her face. The scream was enough to send it out her window pretty quick.

There was a letter on her face too. It had been below the owl, and now that the owl was gone, Lily sat up. The letter slid off her face and onto the blankets. She picked it up. She read the address:

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Miss L. Evans

The Small Sunlit Bedroom

6 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

Just then, her mother opened her bedroom door and said anxiously, "Are you all right, Lily?"

"Yeah. I woke up with an owl perched on my face, but it flew away when it screamed." Lily showed her mother the letter.

"Oh. Okay," Lily's mother said, as if waking up with an owl perched on your face was perfectly normal, and left.

Just then, a much less welcome person banged her way into the room--Lily's sister Petunia.

Petunia saw the letter in her hand and sneered. "Did you get another letter from that freak school of yours?"

"Yes, what's it to you?"

"What would those freaks have to say, anyway?" Petunia laughed. "Dear Freak, Term starts on the Freak Date. Signed, The Freak School." She laughed again and snatched the letter away from Lily.

"Hey!" Lily protested, trying not to cry, because she knew Petunia was probably going to do something else now. "I haven't read that yet!"

"Oh, poor baby, let me get you a lollipop!" Petunia smirked, and tore open the letter. She scanned the first few lines, and her grin widened. "Wow, this is even stupider than I thought." She shook the letter for emphasis and began to read aloud:

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Hogwarts School

of Witchcraft and Wizardry

~

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin: 1st class)

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Dear Miss Evans,

We hope that you found your first year at Hogwarts enjoyable. 

Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books for the coming year. A ticket for the train journey to Hogwarts on the Hogwarts Express is also enclosed. 

Term begins on September 1st.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

"And what are the names of these books?" Petunia said incredulously, shaking open the second paper.

SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:

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The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2

By Miranda Goshawk

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The Intermediate Book of Magical Herbs and Fungi

By Herb Green

"Rubbish, all of it!" Petunia laughed, ripping the book list in half. Lily nearly cried. She managed to stop herself, but a single tear trickled down her cheek anyway. Petunia saw the tear and laughed maliciously. "Is it getting to you, being a freak, sister dear?" She took out the ticket for the Hogwarts Express and just stared. "Platform 9 and 3/4?" she said. "Standard Book of Spells? You're all mad freaks!" She tore up the ticket and threw the pieces on the floor, stalking out before Lily could stop her.

Lily clenched her fists and looked at the crumpled shreds of her ticket on the floor, with tears silently rolling down her cheeks.

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A/N: That depressing ending hasn't made me hyper enough for an author's note…Blah.

And may I introduce my muses: Mara (serious muse) and Lara (insane muse ^_^)

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Mara: That last part was MY idea!!!

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Lara: But the rotten eggs were mine!

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Me: Shut up, both of you! I'm the one who had to write it all!

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Mara and Lara: *glaring at me*

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Me: *gulps* Hey, Lara…what happened to being a big happy family?

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Lara: Shut up.

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Me: Right…*gulps again* I'll stop writing now so that you won't have to hear my screams while my muses kill me…

Bye-bye! *scream*

~Hermione2


	2. The Hogwarts Express

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The Marauders of Hogwarts: Year Two

A/N: Hi! I'm glad to say that my muses didn't kill me! *cheers from small children* …But they came pretty damn close. *gasps from the small children* Lol. 

I'm feeling happy, 'cause life is going good for me right now, so this chapter will probably be so cheerful it sickens you! :D 

But you know, 'cause of that depressing ending for the last chapter, it might have its serious points and spoil my fun. Blah.

And thanks for putting me on your favorites lists, people! *sobs with joy* Lol. Not really. But I'm REALLY HAPPY…^_^

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Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, the best author in the world! All unrecognizable characters, _places, etc. belong to me. Easy enough._

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Chapter 2

The Hogwarts Express

The Marauders and Co. got through the rest of their summer without much happening, except a short trip to Diagon Alley to get their new books. Some of them (James for example) also got brooms, since they were going to try out for the house team.

Then, on September 1st, the day of their journey on the Hogwarts Express finally came.

One of the first Gryffindor second-years to get to the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10 was Fiona Shetland. The barrier was in fact the gateway to Platform 9 3/4, as Fiona had learned last year. However, the idea of going straight through the barrier still scared her. Resolutely, she took a deep breath, shook back her short red hair, and walked forward, keeping tight control of her trolley, which had her trunk and her cat Snowball's cage on it. Getting nervous, she broke into a light run, and just before a crowd passed the barrier--she was through.

Fiona looked around. There was the scarlet steam engine, labeled "Hogwarts Express" on its side. She grinned and looked around for her friends.

Suddenly, she saw Arabella Figg (Bella for short) chatting with Mira Gonzalez and the two Ravenclaw girls Mira hung around with sometimes. The four of them were putting their trunks on the train.

Fiona hurried up and said, "Hi, everybody! Could anybody help me get my trunk on?" Mira, who was surprisingly strong, helped her lift the trunk in no time. "Thanks," Fiona said.

Mira suddenly waved her hand toward the two Ravenclaw girls and said quickly, "Oh, Fiona, you know Raven, right? And Ella?"

Fiona remembered Raven as the girl with short black hair who laughed too much to be a Ravenclaw. Ella, on the other hand, she hadn't been introduced to yet. Ella was a small girl with glasses and long brownish-red hair.

"Yeah, I've met them," Fiona said, and smiled politely. Personally, she thought Ella had some of the LONGEST, UNHEALTHIEST hair EVER. But nobody else seemed to mind.

"Oh, okay," Mira said, and everyone kept talking while they got on the train.

***

A few minutes later, James got through the barrier; he waited too long, and Sirius crashed into him, knocking him down, same as last year.

"I wonder how many years in a row this is going to happen," James said in a muffled voice.

"I dunno," Sirius said, shrugging and sitting down on top of James.

"Well…I DON'T LIKE IT SO GET OFF!!!!!" James yelled. Sirius got off in a hurry. James stood up, dusting himself off, and said in a sweet voice, "Thank you."

Sirius glared.

"Oh look, it's Remus!" James said brightly just as Remus Lupin ran through the barrier and knocked into both of them. And there they were, in a pile again.

"Get off!" James said, in a muffled voice, from the bottom.

Just then, somebody else ran through the barrier and crashed into Sirius and Remus, who were on top of James, knocking them over again.

Sirius blinked and sat up. The fourth person was Peter Pettigrew, another Marauder.

Without even stopping to see who it was, Peter started backing up, stammering. "S-sorry, w-wasn't l-looking--" Then he saw who they actually were. "Oh, never mind."

"Hi, Peter," Remus said.

"Hi," Peter said, looking down at them all. "Having fun?"

"Yep, loads," Sirius said, grinning broadly as he trampled James.

"Gerroff," James mumbled. "_Incendio,_" he said, pointing his wand vaguely up in the air, since he was face-down on the ground and couldn't see.

Sirius dodged the shot of fire, and it made a nice burn-mark on the barrier.

"Missed," he said, sticking out his tongue.

"_Incendio!!!!!_" James bellowed, aiming at Sirius again.

Just then, Lily Evans ran through the barrier, Sirius dodged the fire, and the fire hit Lily's hair instead, and started burning.

"MY **HAIR!!!!!!!**" Lily screamed, making everyone on the platform look up. "MY HAIR!!!!! JAMES POTTER, YOU IDIOT!!!! **I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!!**" she screamed.

"Hey, I resent that!" James protested, getting up right after Sirius got off him.

Lily wasn't paying attention, however. She was too busy making water shoot out of her wand to put out the fire on her literally flaming red hair. 

She managed to stop the fire before it got very far, but her hair got about 3 inches burnt off. She glared, and dusted the ashes off her remaining hair.

"I'm not speaking to any of you," she said furiously, marching off to the train. No one even noticed that the ticket in her hand had clearly been torn up and put back together.

"Touchy," James sniffed.

"James, you realize we've earned the wrath of _Lily_ now, right?" Sirius said slowly.

James went pale.

"Exactly."

***

Lily threw her trunk on the train (she used a Lightening Charm to make it lighter), and then stomped through the train, looking for an empty compartment.

She didn't find an empty one, but she found two compartments that had Bella, Fiona, Thea, Mira, Raven and another girl in them. 

Lily threw herself onto a seat in the compartment with Bella, Fiona and Thea in it, still fuming.

"Hi…Do you know what that idiot James Potter did?" she said, clenching her teeth.

"Is something burning?" Fiona said, oblivious.

Lily nearly screamed. "Something _was_ burning! Potter burnt about three inches off my hair, that git! See?!? There's still some ashes on it!!!" She pointed to the blackened stripe on the bottom edge of her hair.

Bella looked puzzled. "Did he just do it for no reason?! That's so rude!"

"I'm not sure…I think he was aiming at Sirius…but still! He shouldn't do that near the barrier, where anyone could get burnt! He's such a mindless idiot!"

Thea suddenly grinned mischeviously. 

"What?" Lily demanded.

"I think _someone_ likes Potter…"

"WHAT?!?!?!?" Lily screamed, and proceeded to shoot every single curse at Thea that she could think of, and a couple small ones on Bella and Fiona, just for the fun of it.

The problem was, Thea was very good at dodging.

"Haha! You missed!" Thea yelled, dancing around in the passage outside the compartment while the curse ricocheted around, eventually hitting Raven in the next compartment, who suddenly developed a large green boil in the middle of her forehead.

The girl Lily didn't know shrieked, "Aaaaaah! Look at your forehead!" and handed Raven a mirror.

Raven looked in it, screamed, and dived at Thea, shouting, "_Serpensortia!_" A big snake flew out of Raven's wand, hit the floor with a bang, and started to slither toward Thea.

Thea was happened to be afraid of snakes, and started running up and down the compartment in little circles, screaming, "Get it away! Get it away! Get it away!"

Bella, on the other hand, looked calmly at it and said, "Boa constrictor. Can't hurt you unless it wraps around your neck and squeezes."

Thea mind naturally jumped to the way it could kill her, ignoring everything else, so she just kept screaming.

Then, a prefect burst out of another compartment. Strangely, this happened to be the exact same prefect who had taken points off them both times last year. 

The first time was on the morning of the first day, when Lily had an out-of-body experience in which Voldemort threatened her and then began to hit her with a whip. She was screaming, which caused the prefect to come running. However, Lily was out of danger by then, because Mira had saved her from the dream with her Spirit Healing powers, so the prefect took points off because she thought they were just screaming for the fun of it.

The second time had been on Christmas morning, when Voldemort sent Mira a snake that could only hurt Spirit Healers like her, so Mira was screaming. Then, Sirius threw it out the window, and the prefect had once again rushed in to find nothing wrong, and took points off.

So, quite naturally, this prefect was biased against them by now, since they had woken her up twice in the early morning, and took any excuse to punish them. 

"Detention!" the prefect yelled, staring at the chaos. "And _Finite Incantantem!_" The snake and the large green boil on Raven's forehead disappeared, and the prefect stomped out.

***

After the while that they spent thinking of pranks to play on James (with a lot of success), shooting curses at one another (with a lot of yelling from the prefect), and trying to cut Lily's hair even (with no success at all), the Hogwarts Express slowed down and stopped. They got out of the train, and stepped into the dark. Through the blackness they could see a line of carriages that everyone was heading for, and they made a beeline for them. As the group of girls got into two of the carriages, they waved at Hagrid, who was holding up a lantern to guide the first-years to the lake for their customary journey across it.

The four Marauders got out of the train just after them. Lily glared at James as she got into the carriage, but he didn't see her, since he was talking with Sirius about Quidditch. The boys clambered into a third carriage a minute later.

The carriages started and bumped along a path toward Hogwarts. In a minute, they passed the gates, but once again, the Marauders were too busy talking about Quidditch to notice.

In a little while, the carriages stopped and everyone climbed out, looking up at Hogwarts in front of them. The students walked up the steps and swarmed through the front door, going toward the Great Hall. The edges of Lily's hair looked somewhat like this : ^\/^\/^\/^\/^ 

Except worse. 

Just then, Peeves, Hogwarts' (un)beloved poltergeist, started shooting rubber bands at random students. The rubber bands hit them hard on their heads and bounced off; in return, Lily, who was thoroughly angry about any damage done to her head by now, yelled, "PEEVES IS A THESPIAN!!!!!!"

A few whispers went through the corridor.

"A thespian?"

"What's a thespian?" 

"No idea, but it sounds bad, so let's pretend we know exactly what it is and gasp."

Everyone gasped, and Peeves glared at Lily while she went into the Great Hall grinning.

***

The Gryffindors went over to their table, and Mira's friends went over to the Ravenclaw table. 

The Marauders glared at Lucius Malfoy, over at the Slytherin table.

"That git," Sirius muttered, glaring hard. "I was hoping he flunked out last year."

Lily glared at James.

"My hair…" 

Bella glared at her brother Richard, who was at the other end of the table, yelling, "Getting homesick yet, Bella?"

"I've never gotten homesick in my life," Bella muttered furiously.

A typical start of the year for the Marauders. But maybe the year wouldn't be so normal later on.

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A/N: My sister thinks I'm a stupid…um…*beep*…I want to keep my PG rating, lol. ^_^ …I think it's PG, anyway…oh well…My sister will probably kill me for getting on AIM…and there wasn't even anybody on…how GRATIFYING. Lol. Anyway…I finished! Wasn't the best ending, but blah…I had to finish sometime, and I don't like writing long chapters. 

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Lily: I don't like it when you write long chapters either! Why do you like to torture me???

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Me: I'm in a bad mood. If you know what's good for you, shut up…

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Lily: No.

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Me: *kicks Lily across the room* Fun. 

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Lily: Ow…

Bye!

~Hermione2


	3. Daydreaming

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The Marauders of Hogwarts: Year Two

A/N: May I present…*drumroll*…Me, Hermione2, who's back with another chapter!

I'm not sure what I'll put in this one yet, so if I come up with any nice cliffies I'll be very proud of myself.

And by the way, I'd appreciate it if someone would read my Original Fiction story and tell me what they think of it. It's my first one, and I want to know if I should continue it…or if your response is something like this: "AAAAAAH! Get it off the site! It's so horrible! IT'S KILLING ME!!!" ^_^ I mean, I know it's a ripoff of Sleeping Beauty in the prologue, but it's different in the next chapters. Anyway, Gail Carson Levine wrote a ripoff of Cinderella and it won awards! So there! :D

And thank you, thank you, thank you for reviewing! 

And thanks so much to DemonWitch666 and animegirl (who reviewed TWICE _and_ IMed me to ask how this chapter was going, wow, thanks! ^_^) for reviewing!!!!!! 

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Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, the best writer EVER!!! And I mean EVER! All the characters, places, etc. that you don't recognize belong to me. Get it, got it, good.

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Chapter 3

Daydreaming

The first week or so of term was spent reviewing the high points of what they had learned last year, which was pretty easy, since they had all gotten fairly good marks, even Peter (he had some help, of course). (A/N: Of course. He couldn't have done it on his own, the little rat. *glares*) 

Another good thing about this week was that Lily managed to find a Charm to magically cut her hair, making it perfectly even. It was still about three inches shorter, but Lily had played a couple of pranks on James, such as rigging a bucket of water to fall on him when he got out of bed, and dying his hair a hideous shade of yellow with purple polka dots, so she felt content.

The next week, however, was different. They went over completely new things, and even Lily and James, the two geniuses, had some trouble mastering them.

One thing that was a bit strange was that Transfiguration was James' best subject, and Lily's worst one, and that Charms was Lily's best subject, and James' worst. It was like they were made to help each other or something. When they got mad at each other, or were just too lazy to help, James' grades went down in Charms, or Lily's went down in Transfiguration.

Unfortunately for Lily, the first lesson of the day was Transfiguration, so she had no warning, and they happened to be doing something completely new.

"W-wha?" she stammered incoherently, with a horrified look on her face. "Turn a…a beetle…into a…a button!"

"Yep, Lils," James said in the seat next to her, grinning. "Turn a beetle into a button!" He started laughing.

"Laugh this off!" Lily said, and said furiously, "_Silencio!_"

James looked down at himself, and noticed nothing wrong, so he opened his mouth to laugh at her again…and no sound came out. 

James screamed silently.

"Hahahaha…" Lily had a good laugh, while James tried to splutter out insults, but it still looked like he had a mute button and it had just been pushed.

Professor McGonagall came over to the two of them and said sternly, "Does something amuse you, Miss Evans?"

James began furiously mouthing something, but still, no sound came out. Lily started laughing even harder.

"Miss Evans, answer me!"

Professor Abbot, the Potions teacher, suddenly poked his head in at the door to the classroom and stammered, "Er…the…er…Headmaster…wants to see…er…Miss…er…Evans."

Everyone stared. The _Headmaster_? Wow, they thought, Lily must really be in trouble. James smirked.

"And…er…Potter." James' mouth opened in shock. What had _he _done? Everyone else lost interest. James was always getting in trouble.

***

Professor Abbot led the two second-years up two floors, making conversation that mainly consisted of the word 'er'. Professor Abbot, Lily concluded, was the most nervous person she had ever met. Ever. He must have serious issues. Meanwhile, James glared daggers at her. Very long and pointy daggers, he decided, with dried blood on them to make it more intimidating.

Finally, they got to the stone gargoyle that guarded Professor Dumbledore's office.

"Er…Fizzing…er…Whizbees," Professor Abbot stammered. The gargoyle didn't move.

Looking worried, he tried again. "F-F-Fizzing Whizbees."

No response.

Lily thought for a minute, and then said clearly, without any stammering or 'er'ring, "Fizzing Whizbees." The gargoyle jumped aside, and a flight of stairs that were moving upward constantly was visible. "See, Professor," she said kindly, "You just should stutter so much. It really doesn't get you ahead in the world."

Professor Abbot gaped angrily as Lily stepped onto the staircase.

"T-T-Ten points off Gryffindor, M-Miss Evans!"

He stomped off. Wow, Lily thought, he has some spirit after all.

She and James got onto the staircase, with James behind Lily. James had got off daggers now, and was daydreaming about Lily hanging by her fingers off something with a very long drop under it. Suddenly, a very weird thing happened.

The stair Lily was on suddenly flipped over, and Lily fell and screamed, grabbing the edge of the stair below the one she had been on. "Stupid trick stair," she muttered, and looked down--and then she turned pale.

There was _nothing_ below the stairs. Absolutely nothing. _A very long drop_. James stared. Had _he _made that happen?

Lily, who was afraid of heights, muttered, "I don't like this, I don't like this, I definitely don't like this--Potter! Get me out of this stair!" she yelled.

"Is there a problem, Miss Evans?" Professor Dumbledore inquired, coming down the staircase. When he saw Lily hanging on the stair, he looked mildly surprised. "It tends to do that sometimes," he said. "Here, let me help." He waved a hand, and the stair flew up into it's proper place again, so that Lily collapsed onto it in a heap. She got up slowly, trembling a little from the aftermath of her problems with heights.

"Th-thank you, Sir," she said.

"Don't mention it, Miss Evans…Hello, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said, smiling at him. "How about you both come up to my office?"

James nodded. He was still unable to speak, but he thought he would draw it out and then blame Lily when he couldn't answer Dumbledore when he asked him a question or something. He was relieved too. Dumbledore had said that had happened before. He hadn't caused Lily to fall. Now that he thought about it, he was surprised to find that it was enough to be a wizard. He didn't want other special powers too. Too much work.

Lily and James followed Dumbledore up to the door of his office, and Dumbledore ushered them in, directing them to a couple of chairs in front of his desk.

"Miss Evans…Mr. Potter," the Headmaster said gravely, seating himself in a big velvet-covered armchair behind his desk. "…You remember the reason I called you all here to my office last year?"

Lily said, "Yes, Sir." James nodded.

"You remember that I have reason to believe that you, Miss Evans, are the One of Jewels, which is why Voldemort had been threatening you…Have you had any more experiences of that sort since last year, Miss Evans?"

"No, Sir."

"Ah…" Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "…And Mr. Potter, has anything unusual happened to you?"

James shook his head.

"Were you by any chance daydreaming about Miss Evans falling into an abyss, or something of that sort, when that stair flipped over? Because I have quite a nice abyss under those stairs. I call it the Abysmal Abyss. Wouldn't you say that's a good name?"

James' mouth opened in shock. He tried to talk.

"Excuse me, Mr. Potter? I didn't quite catch that."

James made frantic hand motions.

"Ah, yes…you're spelling out something in sign language, correct?"

James nodded vigorously.

"Do it again."

"Ah…I'm getting L-I-L-Y-P-U-T-A-C-U-R-S-E-O-N-M-E." Dumbledore wrote these letters down on paper as he spoke, and then stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Now what would that spell…? Er…Lilyputacurseonme…Ah! Lily put a curse on me! Wait…Lily put a curse on _me?_ I don't remember Miss Evans putting a curse on me…"

James put his head in his hands. Lily smirked.

Tiredly, James waved a hand in front of Dumbledore's face to get his attention, then spelled out L-I-L-Y-P-U-T-A-C-U-R-S-E-O-N-J-A-M-E-S-P-O-T-T-E-R.

"Oh…Lily put a curse on James Potter! But…Miss Evans, did you put a curse on Mr. Potter here?"

"Maybe," Lily said evasively.

"Mr. Potter just spelled out I-C-A-N-T-T-A-L-K….What incantation did you use, Miss Evans? …S-I-L-E-N-C-I-O. Ah. _Reverso Silencio!_"

James stammered out, "Thank you, Professor…"

"Your welcome. Now, let's get back to what we were talking about."

"Oh, right," James said, looking sheepish. Then, he took off like a rollercoaster. "Professor Dumbledore, I _was_ daydreaming about Lily hanging off a cliff or something above an abyss!" Lily glared. James noticed and said, "Well, you deserved it. I can't survive without talking. That was just plain cold-hearted…But how did you know, Professor?"

"Well, Mr. Potter…I have some skill with that sort of thing myself."

James looked shocked. "But…but…But what did I do?"

"You used telepathy, Mr. Potter. A very strong form of it, if you were simply daydreaming."

"But…what's telepathy?"

"Miss Evans?" Professor Dumbledore turned to Lily and addressed her. "You are Muggle-born. I trust you know."

"Yes, I do. Telepathy is the ability to move things with your mind, without touching them. Though why _you_ have it I can't figure out, James Potter, since you have to be very _intelligent_ to do it," she said, glaring at him again.

James smirked at her and said, "So you finally admit it, do you?"

"Don't talk to me, Potter," Lily snapped.

"Hm…Miss Evans, you can go." Lily left, and once she was out the door the Headmaster said, "Mr. Potter, I want you to come back here during lunchtime today."

***

Lily and James caught up with the rest of the second-years in Charms, the second lesson of the day, and told the other Gryffindors about what Dumbledore had said.

"You're telepathic?" Mira said keenly. "That's awesome!"

"Yeah," Fiona said.

"Wicked!" Thea said loudly, causing half the room to look at her, and Professor Flitwick to tell her to quiet down.

When everyone else had gone back to practicing the lesson, James said, "But I don't think Dumbledore would want me to tell anyone outside this group, since we're the only ones in that prophecy thing," James said slowly.

"Oh, don't worry," Sirius said. "Who would we tell, anyway?"

James shrugged. 

A few minutes later, he accidentally blew up the feather he was supposed to be practicing the lesson on.

"Oops."

***

"Er…Professor Dumbledore, you wanted to see me?" James said, standing nervously in front of the Headmaster's desk.

"Yes. I wanted to talk you about your telepathy."

"Er…okay."

"I think this might be your part in the prophecy. Telepathy is your talent. When one has a strong talent, it is often wise to develop that talent. Therefore, I am going to be training you myself, Mr. Potter."

"You?" James said in shock. Dumbledore, teaching him? He didn't feel good enough.

"Yes, me. Hm…I believe we will start in a month or so."

"Yes, sir."

"And I advise you not to tell anyone about your telepathy except people you can trust."

"Yes, sir." 

***

"Hm…Venyetta, fan me."

"Yes, M'Lord," Venyetta said, raising a palm fan and creating a nice breeze. She was one of his most devoted Death Eaters by this time. Voldemort was very glad he had gotten her off the street a year ago. He could always use another devoted Death Eater. After all, if he didn't have devoted Death Eaters, who would fan him?

"My Lord!" Lucius Malfoy came in and bowed.

"Did you conjure up any new prophecies about me, Malfoy?"

"Yes, My Lord! Look!" Malfoy held up a roll of parchment.

"What does it say, Malfoy?"

"Er…" Malfoy unrolled the parchment.

"_Nine people, and two of them dark._

"The first: dark on the inside, but no on the outside.

"The second: dark on the outside, but not on the inside. Dark by rule, but defying the rule.

"The seven others are light.

"The first is strange beyond measure, but will be there in times of need.

"The second is a fighter.

"The third, fourth and fifth work best together.

"The sixth is very important; he will help the others, and will have strong powers of his own.

"The seventh…the most important.

"The One of Jewels.

"Like jewels she looks, jewels she owns.

"All these eight will help the One to her great victory, which will be a great fall also."

"Er…That's it, My Lord."

"Interesting…" Voldemort said lazily. "Oh, Malfoy…Could you estimate the answer to eight and three fifths times five and one half?"

"Er…why, My Lord?"

"Oh, no reason. It just happens to be on the author's math homework."

"The author, My Lord?"

"You know, the author of this weird little story…?"

"Oh…er…_right_, my Lord…" Malfoy concluded that Voldemort might be VERY crazy, but he was REALLY GOOD at saying _Avada Kedavra_, so he'd better play along. "Er…what was the problem?"

"Eight and three fifths times five and one half."

"Er…I believe, when you estimate it, the answer is 46 and three fourths."

"THANKS."

"What?! Who was that?!"

"It was the author, Malfoy."

"Oh, right, the author…er…you're welcome…" Malfoy got out of the room _very_ quickly.

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A/N: Yay! I finished the chapter! YAY YAY YAY! 

And sorry for the wait, if anyone's still reading this. I would have got it out a week earlier, but I went to Florida for four days…*looks guilty* 

****

Mara: You're so worthless, Sophia.

****

Lara: *pats Sophia on the head* No you're not!

****

Me: Thanks, Lara…I'll have to kill Mara some day…

****

Mara: But then you wouldn't have any inspiration for all your depressing stories you don't post on here! 

****

Me: Hey, good point…Okay…I won't kill you…

****

Mara: Oh joy.

****

Me: …yet.

****

Mara: *gulps*

Bye-bye! *waves*

~Hermione2


	4. Plans

****

The Marauders of Hogwarts

A/N: Hi.

And THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to DemonWitch666, SiriDragon, _______ for reviewing! Hugs, hugs to evwybody! *hugs the WONDEEful reviewers* ^_^

__

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, the best writer EVER!!! And I mean EVER! All the characters, places, etc. that you don't recognize belong to me. Get it, got it, good.

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Chapter 4

Plans

"No, Mr. Potter, don't stare at it like _that_..." Dumbledore was trying to teach James how to make a feather float with his telekinesis. "You have to be _interested_ in it. You can't just stare at like you're thinking, 'So, I have to stare at a feather and it'll move. Dumbledore's lost his marbles.' " James flushed. "You have to actually _believe_ that it will move...Don't look at me in that tone of voice!"

James started. He'd still had the slightly skeptical look on his face.

"Concentrate. A good way to do it is imagine it happening. For example, how you imagined Miss Evans falling off a cliff somewhere." James' face went red again. Dumbledore was very good at embarrassing James when he wanted him to get something done, yet he always had that merry twinkle in his eye, so James knew he wasn't really that mad at him. Hopefully.

Deciding to follow Dumbledore's advice, he stared at the feather, and imagined it floating upward. He narrowed his eyes and stared at it harder...And then his eyes got a burning feeling, sort of uncomfortable, but not enough to stop, because he thought that maybe he was finally getting somewhere with this...

And then, slowly, and seeming to waver uncertainly in the air, the feather rose into the air about two inches.

James yelped in surprise, and the feather dropped back down again. The burning feeling in his eyes was gone. But he'd _done it!_ That feather had floated up into the air, all because of him! He didn't need any wand to help him! James grinned suddenly. Oh, the possibilities...

Dumbledore said quietly, "Very good, Mr. Potter."

***

James had been taking lessons in telekinesis from Dumbledore twice a week, for about two weeks. It was around the beginning of October now. In another week, the Halloween decorations would start to go up, and then there would be the feast. But more important to James was his telekinesis.

"No telling what you could move," Sirius said to him the night after James made the feather move.

"Yeah. I was thinking it'd be very…_useful_ in pranks," James said, grinning mischeviously.

Sirius grinned back at him. "Now _that's_ an idea!" Raising his voice, he stood on top of the table they were sitting at in the common room and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, please give Gryffindor's resident genius, James Potter, a round of applause!" A few people laughed and clapped, but most didn't pay any attention to him. "They don't have the proper respect for us, James," Sirius said tragically, shaking his head as he sat down again. "We'll have to do something big. I think the Halloween feast'll be the perfect time. Trap all the Slytherins in their common room or something…"

"Nah, remember the last record-holder for the most detentions, Ashley Thompson? She did that already. None of them could come to the Great Hall for meals for a whole day. The house elves had to go in to give them food, and then they got stuck in there too. Must have been the greatest prank in history," James said, shaking his head in admiration. "But we've got to beat her, Sirius."

"Yeah, you're right. And how do you know all this?"

"Research, my friend…research."

***

Also at the same time, Voldemort was in his hideout, examining the prophecy Malfoy had brought him. "Hm…

"_Nine people, and two of them dark._

"The first: dark on the inside, but not on the outside. Hm…perfect servant for me, it sounds like. Looks innocent. I'll use that one against them in good time.

"_The second: dark on the outside, but not on the inside. Dark by rule, but defying the rule_. Hm…One of the dark creatures, perhaps? I'll come back to that.

__

"The seven others are light." He stopped reading and said, "Ha! I knew I'd find some nemisises soon! I must show this to Dr. Evil! I'll win that bet!" He clapped his hands in joy.

***

And yet again, at the same time (A/N: Wow I have a lot of that in this chapter ^_^), Lily, Bella, Fiona, Thea and Mira were sitting on the beds in their dormitory, having a _very_ important discussion.

"Look! The piggy can fly!" Thea squealed randomly, and threw a stuffed pig into the air. Of course, it hit the ground in less than two seconds. Thea frowned and stubbornly shouted, "_Wingardium Leviosa!_" but unfortunately hit Lily instead of the pig, so Lily rose off her bunk and hit her head on the bunk above it.

"Ow. Dammit, Thea, that hurt!"

"Sorry," Thea said, looking down. She also took her wand off Lily, so that the red-haired girl abruptly came in the control of gravity again, and yelped as she hit her leg very hard on the edge of the bunk. 

"Gee, thanks for letting me down, Thea," Lily said sarcastically.

"No problem, Lily. Anytime," Thea said cheerfully, and shrunk back in her bed a little as Lily glared at her venemously.

"So, what are we here for?" Mira said.

"We need to think of a name for our group. I mean, the boys are the Marauders, but we don't want to be called the Marauders too! They'll think they're so smart because they made up the name!" Bella said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Like what?" Mira said. She wasn't very good at thinking of names. "Does_ anybody _have an idea?"

"THE PURPLE PEOPLE EATERS!!!!!" Thea shouted. Everyone whipped their heads around and stared at her incredulously.

"The…Purple…People Eaters?" Fiona said weakly.

"Yep!"

"Uh…no, I don't think that's it, Thea…Doesn't fit us, somehow…" Bella said slowly.

"The Maraudettes?" Mira said sarcastically, and laughed. Nobody else laughed.

__

Gah, Mira thought. _Nobody gets my sarcastic jokes._

"THE VENEMOUS CHINCHILLAS!!!!" Thea screamed. Everyone stared at her again.

"Seriously, Thea, where do you get these things?" Lily said.

"I like it!" Mira said. Everyone stared at her instead. "Uh…just kidding…" she said weakly.

"THE MICRO INVERTEBRATES THAT EXPLODE IF YOU PUT THEM IN TAP WATER!!!!"

"What are micro invertebrates?" Bella said, confused.

Thea suddenly started singing. "They live in a pineapple under the sea…SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!"

"She's gone mad," Fiona said, shaking her head. "What a sad case."

"She hasn't gone mad!" Mira said indignantly. "Haven't you people ever heard of Spongebob Squarepants??" She started singing along with Thea and shouting, "SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!"

(A/N: And I don't care if they didn't have Spongebob Squarepants back in the 60's or whenever the Marauders were alive, and if they don't have it in England. Mira's from the US anyway. *looks stubborn* Lol. :D)

Lily said, "Micro invertebrates are these little animals…I studied them in school once…but THEY EXPLODE WHEN YOU PUT THEM IN TAP WATER?!??! Bloody hell, that's AWESOME!!! I didn't learn that! And some of them do live under the sea…but not in a pineapple. I think they really have gone mad," she said, shaking her head sadly as Mira and Thea continued to sing. Mira actually had a nice voice, but nobody really cared: they were too busy staring at her and Thea. 

"Let's just call ourselves the Amazons and be done with it," Fiona said.

"Amazons?" Bella said, raising her eyebrows.

"Warrior maidens," Fiona explained.

"Yeah, okay, that works," Lily said.

"Appropriate, since we're going to kill the Marauders and trample them into the dust when it comes to pranks," Thea said brightly.

"Yeah," Mira said.

***

And that's the end of all the things that happened at the same time, thankfully. I bet you were tired of that.

***

"I've got it, James!" Sirius suddenly yelled out in the middle of Transfiguration one afternoon, earning himself a stern look from Professor McGonagall.

"What have you got, Black?" Professor McGonagall said sarcastically. "We'd all simply _love_ to know."

"Er…"

"Answer me, Black. What have you got?"

"Er…my ear?" Sirius offered. A few of the Slytherins they were having the lesson with sniggered.

"Silence! Rimet, Snape, and all the rest of you too." Snape and Narcissa Rimet stopped sniggering.

"Five points off Gryffindor, Black. Now, let's get back to what we were talking about before Black shouted out that he got his ear," Professor McGonagall said.

***

After the class, James walked out of the classroom with Sirius and then confronted him. "So, Sirius, what do you really have?" He grinned.

"The prank," Sirius said, nodding wisely.

"What prank?"

"The big one we were going to do, remember?"

"Oh, right!"

"Yeah, see, here's what we do. I make a potion, right, and--"

"Sirius, you're horrible at potions."

"Oh, right…Er…Remus'll do that then. Anyway, it'll be a potion to make all the Slytherins turn into chickens for five minutes or something at a time. Then, we go down to the kitchen and put it in their food on the night there's the Halloween Feast, and we'll get Remus to make it so it works every time somebody says 'Happy Halloween'."

"You're brilliant, Sirius."

"I know, Jamesiekinns, I know."

"DON'T CALL ME JAMSIEKINNS!!!"

The two boys kept walking. What they didn't notice was that a certain Gryffindor girl with long red hair and emerald green eyes had been following them, listening to every word. As soon as they stopped discussing the prank, however, she stopped listening and smiled.

"We've got them now!" she said to herself.

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A/N: Dun dun DUUUN…What is Lily up to?

And lookie, there's James' nickname again! Go Jamsiekinns! Lol.

Some stuff in the next chapter's gonna be…The Halloween Feast, some pranks, Voldie and Dr. Evil (yep, in my story, Voldie and Dr. Evil are best buds, lol), maybe James gets some more lessons from Dumbledore, and whatever else I can think of.

And now I will explain Voldie and Dr. Evil more carefully, for the benefit of all who did not read the first story, hehe.

Voldie went to an orphanage in Belgium and he met Dr. Evil getting raised by that evil Belgian couple, so they're best buds because they're both evil people. Hehe. And if you don't know about Dr. Evil from watching Austin Powers…you make me cry with your deprivation. _Watch Austin Powers._ Lol.

And then, in the Marauders' and Amazons' first year, Voldie and Dr. Evil made a bet about Voldie getting a nemisis ('cause he's gotta have a newer nemisis than Dumblydore, Voldie's hated him for 20 years or something already). Voldie said he could get a whole group of nemisises, and Dr. Evil said he couldn't. They only bet 500 dollars though, 'cause Dr. Evil's running low on money. ^_^ And Dr. Evil sends Voldie a machine gun for X-mas. :D

So Voldie's found his nemisises now, so we'll see about that bet in the next chapter! Yay! ^_^

~Hermione2


	5. Pranks

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The Marauders of Hogwarts

A/N: Hi, everybody! I've been sick for three days, so I didn't really get the time to start this for a while. 

Special thanks to Loki-goddess of destruction because I didn't get to thank her in the last chapter for reviewing.

__

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, the best writer EVER!!! And I mean EVER! All the characters, places, etc. that you don't recognize belong to me. Get it, got it, good.

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Chapter 5

Pranks

On the day of the Halloween feast, Remus gave James a container full of a dark green jello-like substance. 

"Here's the potion, James, to turn the Slytherins into chickens."

"Thanks, Remus. You're the best."

"Stop it, I'm blushing," Remus said, fluttering his eyelashes sarcastically.

***

Sirius walked down the marble staircase and waved his wand. Holding the container with the potion in it, he darted into the shadow of a doorway as Mission Impossible music started. He hummed along.

"Dun dun da-da-da-dun dun da-da-da-dun dun."

He darted down the rest of the hallway and crept down the staircase leading to the dungeons. At the bottom, there was a hallway filled with pictures of fruit.

"Aha!" Sirius said. He strolled over and stood in front of a picture of a bowl of fruit. He waved his wand again, and the Mission Impossible music stopped.

Then, he reached out and tickled a large green pear in the center of all the fruit. The pear giggled, then suddenly turned into a large green door handle. He pulled on it, and the painting swung open.

Instantly, a group of house elves ran up, saying in high squeaky voices, "We is glad to see you, sir. Do you want some food, sir?"

"No…I came to give you this." Sirius held up the container. "Chop it up in tiny pieces and put it in the Slytherin's food for the Halloween Feast."

"What is it, sir?" one of the house elves said.

"It's…a kind of herb. It makes it taste better."

"Very well, sir. Thank you, sir." One of the house elves took the container out of his hand and ran off.

"Would you like some food, sir?" the rest said.

"Well…maybe a _little_." 

***

Sirius left the kitchen with two cakes and a whole stack of cookies.

***

Peter and Remus were playing chess in the common room, and James was watching, when Sirius came through the portrait hole and ran over to them looking triumphant.

"I did it," he said, stuffing his face with a chocolate cake. "The Slytherins'll have feathers soon."

James grinned at the thought of Slytherins with feathers, Remus said, "Checkmate. Give me some cake," and Peter frowned.

***

Just after Sirius left the kitchen, Lily poked her head out from under the tablecloth. "Is he gone?" she said, looking around. "Damn, he took a bloody long time to get all that food. What a pig!"

"Yes, miss," the nearest house elf said.

"Good." She grinned. "And be sure to put my…spice…in the food that's going to be sent to the left side of the Gryffindor table."

"Sure thing, miss."

"Thanks. The Amazons have struck again," she muttered as she left the kitchen.

***

"So, what am I over here for, Voldemort?" Dr. Evil said lazily as one of Voldemort's Death Eaters poured him tea. "Is it about that frickin' bet?"

"Yes! I found a whole group of nemisises! I told you I would!"

"You can't be serious, Voldemort. Throw me a frickin' bone here! How could you find a whole group of them?"

"Look at this." He handed Dr. Evil the parchment. "I think seven would qualify as a group, don't you?"

"1…2…3…4…5…6…7. Yeah, ok, you've got a group. How much do I owe you?"

Voldemort smiled.

***

It was Halloween. Bats swooped among the orange-and-black-striped candles near the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall, which was a deep velvet blue with countless stars twinkling cheerfully all over it.

"Wow," Mira breathed, forgetting that she was afraid of bats.

"Okay," Lily said importantly. "Remember: Mira, Fiona, Bella, Thea--whatever you do, _don't_ sit on _that _side of the table." She pointed at the left side. "And try to make sure the Marauders--_especially James_--sit on that side of the table." 

The rest of the Amazons nodded. "Okay." They grinned.

"Hey, James, sit here," Thea said elegantly. "It's a place of honor," she said, ushering him into a seat on the left side of the table. "For the head of our group."

James smiled. "Thanks," he said, and sat down. It was all Lily could do to keep from whooping with laughter.

Since James was sitting there, Sirius, Remus and Peter sat in the seats right next to him.

Meanwhile, the Amazons ran around telling all their particular friends not to sit on that side of the table. Their friends giggled and said, "They _will_?" People started covertly whispering and pointing at the Marauders. A few gasped when they heard what was being whispered, and then started laughing their heads off for no apparent reason.

The Slytherins filed into the Great Hall and sat at their table. The Marauders nudged each other and winked. Lily was nearly crying from suppressed laughter.

Everyone sat on the right side of the table, not the left side. The Marauders didn't appear to notice no one was sitting on their side of the table, and to wonder why.

"Whoopdedoo, flibbertigibbet, and blahdeblah. Let the feast begin!" Albus Dumbledore said, smiling down at them all, and everyone dug eagerly into their food.

"Hey, Jamesiekinns!" Sirius said. "_Happy Halloween!_" Suddenly, the Slytherins all turned into chickens. The Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws all laughed as the Slytherins ran around on their table pecking at their food.

"Bloody hell!" Professor McGonagall shrieked. "_WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!?!?_"

"Look, Jamsiekinns, they love us!" Sirius said. Then, the Gryffindors all looked at him and howled in surprised laughter. He had a big, red Bozo-the-Clown-type nose. Sirius didn't have a clue, and thought they were all still laughing at the Slytherins.

"Yeah, that was our prank!" James yelled. The Gryffindors all fell over laughing. James looked over at Sirius and noticed his nose. "Oh, _that's_ what you were laughing at!" James yelled, whooping and falling off his chair. Just when he fell over, the Gryffindors noticed _he_ had a Bozo nose too. They laughed even harder.

"Excuse me, Mr. Potter? _OUR PRANK?!?!?!?_ Who were your accomplices?" Professor McGonagall, who had been standing right behind him, said this in a dangerous voice of thunder. Lily howled with laughter and fell off her chair. Bella, Fiona, Thea and Mira were already down.

"Er…Black, Lupin and P-Pettigrew," James stammered from the floor, pointing at his friends. 

"James! Why did you turn us in?" Sirius said indignantly. James shrugged weakly.

Professor McGonagall said suddenly, "Potter, why do you all have…big red noses?"

The Gryffindors, who were all on the floor laughing weakly, looked over at the Marauders, who were also on the floor laughing weakly, and laughed harder. Remus and Peter had Bozo noses too.

"What?" James said. He felt his nose, and poked it, feeling the soft red Bozo-ness of it. He looked at it cross-eyed. "AAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!" he screamed.

"_We_ did _that_ prank," Lily whispered, earning the Amazons high-fives from half of Gryffindor House.

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A/N: Okay, this chapter was probably kinda short, but I'll try to improve on that in the next chapter! Hope everybody liked it!

And I'm starting X-mas holidays today!!!! YAY!!!!!!!! ^_^ 

I wish I got a boyfriend for X-mas that'd be fun…lol I won't bore you with my personal life.

Please review! :D

~Hermione2


	6. Crossing Lines

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The Marauders of Hogwarts

A/N: Yay, the sixth chapter! *raises one eyebrow* I'm counting those reviews…SO REVIEW OR DEVIL PENGUIN WILL KILL YOU!!!!! Lol, not really, but please? :D

And thanks for reviewing to…**animegirl** (yup, go you! you write good stories!) and **SiriDragon **(and YOU write good stories too!), and **Loki-goddess of destruction **(yeah, I hate it when people don't update too, which sorta makes me a hypocrite ^_^). And all of you…CONTINUE YOUR STORIES!!!!!!! ^_^ Wow, I'm such a hypocrite. I'm like, "CONTINUE!!!!" and then I'm like, "Hm…I think I'll put this chapter off another day." Lol.

And this chapter is extremely random and strange, so please don't kill me…please? ^_^

__

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, the best writer EVER!!! And I mean EVER! All the characters, places, etc. that you don't recognize belong to me. Get it, got it, good.

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Chapter 6

Crossing Lines

"How--could--you--do--that--to--me," James panted, the day after Halloween, trying to kick Lily at the end of every word. However, Lily dodged easily, and smiled sweetly at him as he glared at her. "Stand still, dammit."

"Hm…" she said, pretending to stand still to think about it. He aimed a kick at her, and she jumped upward so it went right under her feet. "…I think not. Sorry."

"How--could--you--give--me--that--nose?" he said. "I--thought--you---were--my--friend. Whew, all that kicking is getting tiring…"

"And you haven't hit me once!" Lily said brightly. James glared at her. 

"Why--did--you--do--that?"

"Take a wild guess."

"Uh…I've done a few things to you…"

"Wow, you got it in one!"

"I'm…sorry?" he offered, this time dodging a blow Lily was aiming at him. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" He ran away.

"Yeah, that's right, wimp, run away! Go Amazons, the non-wimpy people!" Lily yelled after him, in the middle of the crowded hallway. She noticed people staring at her and smiled. "Hi. Do you have a problem? Because, you know, I could help you with that! Mr. Fist could help too!" She showed everybody her fist. They looked away _very_ quickly. She grinned. "Okay. I was sure you didn't _really_ have a problem!"

***

Sirius chose to yell at Mira, in the Gryffindor common room. "How could you do that to me?!" he yelled.

"Aw, I don't know…I mixed a potion, and then added a few extra things…" she said. "It was nothing," she said, pretending to be modest.

"I hate you!" Sirius said.

"I hate you too!" Mira said sarcastically in a shocked voice. "Wow, what a coincidence!"

"I love you!" Sirius yelled through the common room. Half the common room turned their heads. Sirius Black yelling that he loved somebody was not a normal occurrence. _Anybody_ yelling in the common room that they loved somebody was not a normal occurrence. But Sirius Black was the most likely person, so only half the people's heads turned. Fiona Shetland, who happened to be standing in a convenient corner, clapped her hand to her mouth.

"What?!?!" Mira yelled in shock, and fell off the table she was standing on to yell at him.

"Er…I was just kidding…" Sirius said quickly, peering down at her as she lay on the floor glaring at him.

"Damn, that scared me for a minute! Don't _ever _do that again! No me gusta tú, Sirius Lee Black!" There were some giggles.

"You're seriously black, Sirius? You look really pale to me!" someone yelled out. Sirius glared. 

(A/N: Sorry, I just had to have a horrible pun somewhere in this story…^_^)

"What?" he said to Mira.

"I hate you, Sirius Lee Black!" There were the giggles again.

"Well, I hate you, Mira Sophia Gonzalez!"

"Hey, Mira, you have a pretty name!" someone else yelled.

Mira smiled and yelled, "Thanks!" Sirius glared again.

***

Remus didn't yell. He had a _rational_ discussion with Thea.

"Okay, did you have anything to do with that Bozo nose?" he said.

"Of course!" Thea said brightly.

"I hate you," he said, calmly and rationally.

"I hate you too!" Thea said, hugging him, and they went their separate ways. Peter trailed along behind Remus.

***

"I've got 500 dollars!" Lord Voldemort yelled a week later, clutching the check Dr. Evil had sent him and dancing around his room. 

"Now…to get to work on my new nemisises," he said, rubbing his hands together eagerly.

***

On December 1st, the Amazons were in their dormitory, discussing how much Lily and Mira flirted with _certain_ Marauders.

"Lily, you're always dumping buckets of water and stuff on James. It really looks like you have a crush on him," Fiona said seriously. Mira giggled. "And as for _you,_" Fiona said to Mira, "_everyone_ thinks you like Sirius Black." Mira's mouth opened indignantly as Bella and Thea laughed. 

"I do not!" Mira said. "He's just…a friend who is really fun to play pranks on," she said, grinning with a sinking heart on the inside as she realized how unbelievable that sounded. She wondered…she didn't _think_ she liked him, but who knew? It was really hard not to like a cute, funny guy who was really fun to play pranks on, and in addition had yelled that he loved her in the common room a month or so ago. I mean, he'd said it was a joke after she'd gotten all shocked, but again…who knew? Weirder things had happened at Hogwarts.

"And I do not and will _never_ have a crush on James Potter," Lily said vehemently.

"Are you sure about that, Lily?" Bella said, grinning.

"_Very_ sure," Lily said.

As for Mira, the Amazons seemed to take her answer all right. They didn't question her about it anymore. This rather unnerved her, since they'd at least teased Lily, but she didn't think it would come up later anyway. Wow, was she wrong.

***

The Amazons and the Marauders (except for James and Peter) all decided to stay over the Christmas holidays, which started on Decemer 20th. They made their entrance on the first day of the holidays by getting two first-years who were friends of theirs, Kendal McCain (a Ravenclaw) and Travis Farley (a Gryffindor), to roll out a red carpet for them and to blow a trumpet to announce their arrival. Then, Mira magicked some confetti to fall on them when they stepped through the door. She made sure it was pink, heart-shaped confetti for Sirius, and everyone laughed.

"Thank you, thank you," Mira said, bowing, until Sirius aimed a kick at her. Then, she jumped up and kicked in mid-air, hitting Sirius in the stomach and sending him staggering into Remus, wheezing. The students in the Great Hall oohed and aahed at her apparent karate skills. "Thank you, thank you," she said again, bowing.

***

"Let's play a game!" Fiona yelled in the common room on the night of December 21st.

"Yeah, okay," nearly everyone in the common room said. _Fiona thinks of okay games,_ they all thought.

"Okay, I'm gonna draw lines across the carpet," she said, "and the person who crosses all the lines and gets to the other side of the room first wins. And we go through everybody playing, see, and everybody thinks of something, like, 'everybody whose favorite color is blue'. And everybody whose favorite color is blue crosses a line. So the first person to cross get to the other side of the room while we're going through everybody playing wins, see?"

Somehow, everybody got it, and they all got in a line across the edge of the carpet. Fiona's skills seemed to be going down in the game area, but who knew, it could be more fun than it looked. They might be able to get some blackmail material from this game. Fiona drew a bunch of lines in chalk across the whole carpet, and then joined everybody else at the edge.

"Okay, I'll do one," she said. "Everybody who…er…has a cat."

Mira and some other people crossed the first line.

Lily said, "Everybody who's insane." 

Quite a few people crossed a line at that, including all the Amazons and Sirius and Remus.

"Everybody who likes blue," a first-year said, distinctly copying Fiona. Mira and Sirius and some other random people crossed a line.

"Everybody who's ever killed anything bigger than a rabbit!" some weird first year yelled, and a few people crossed a line, including Fiona and Thea. Mira looked at them with an eyebrow raised.

And it went on. Mira thought it was pretty boring, but soon she was on the first line with Sirius, Remus and the Amazons, and then it was her turn.

"Everybody who loves me!" she yelled sarcastically, and crossed the line with a laugh, but when she looked to her right, so she could smirk at Sirius because she was a line ahead of him, she got a shock.

Sirius Black had moved up too. And nobody else had, so it wasn't a joke this time.

"Holy crap," she whispered, and ran out of the common room.

"Dammit, I thought that would work!" Fiona said.

"You _planned _this, Fiona? You need to work on your planning skills," Lily said.

"Shut up! I planned it more recently than she did!" Sirius said, and ran out of the common room after Mira.

Everybody stared after him in stunned silence. 

__

Wow, everybody thought, _that was weird._

***

Sirius almost didn't see Mira slipping through the door of a classroom that was close to Gryffindor tower, but he did, and rushed through the same door, saying, "Wait."

"Go away, damn you," was the very polite response. She was sitting on a desk with her head down, swinging her legs back and forth.

"Do I have to?" he said.

Mira looked up, and said, "If you just _had_ to do that, did you just _have_ to do that in front of _all of Gryffindor House?!?_ And I told you to _never, EVER…_" Sirius almost relaxed during the pause, until-- "**DO THAT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!**"

"Er…"

"Dammit, why do I have to like _you?!_ Why can't I like some _quiet person?!_" she yelled, jumping off the desk and stamping her foot. She stormed out of the classroom.

Sirius shrugged.

***

"So…let me get this straight. You like her, she likes you, and she's mad at you because you basically told all of Gryffindor House about it," Lily said, in the Gryffindor common room the next night, December 22nd.

"Yes, isn't it stupid?"

"You're such an idiot."

"What? Why am _I_ an idiot?? Why can't she be the idiot?"

Lily sighed. "You know she's really shy, don't you? No clue why, but she is. So you basically destroyed any chance of her _not_ hating you, you get it?"

"Yeah, that's it!" Sirius said triumphantly. "She's so shy she's an idiot too!"

Remus, who was sitting with them, sighed with Lily this time. "That reminds me. I have to go visit my mother tomorrow. She's sick again. At least I don't have to listen to you being an idiot."

"Why is your mother always sick? Does she have some kind of repeating disease or something?"

"Er…yeah, kind of….It's a long story," Remus said uneasily.

"Right…Okay, I won't ask then." But he was going to find out. Yet another reason he needed Mira. He grimaced. She was smarter than him. After Remus went upstairs, Sirius said to Lily, "Don't you think there's something strange about Remus' mother being sick all the time?"

"Well, yeah…but you're just trying to get the attention off you, aren't you?"

"Yes…but I still think it's strange."

"Have you ever noticed his mother gets sick about once a month, Sirius?" Mira had appeared next to them.

"Er…Mira…hi…" Sirius said uneasily, looking up at her face to see if she'd forgiven him yet. Apparently not.

"I don't want to talk to you," she said, turning her head slightly away from him. "You know, in case you tell the entire county over a megaphone that I'm talking to you."

"What's a megaphone?" Sirius said curiously.

Mira sighed. "Never mind, Sirius. I don't think the knowledge would be very safe with you."

"What was that about Remus' mother, though?" Lily said.

"You notice she…gets sick…about once every month? Think about it." Mira walked away.

"Hey, she might have something there…" Lily mused, while Sirius banged his head on the table.

"She hates me," he groaned, slamming his head down on the pile of books he was supposed to be doing his homework out of. "Ow."

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A/N: So…all these things will be answered…someday, or perhaps in the next chapter:

Will Sirius ever get Mira to like him again, even as a friend? ****

Me: I hope so. At least if I ain't getting' a boyfriend for X-mas my favorite original character is! **: )**

Mira: But I hate him!

****

Mara: Deal with it. You're her favorite character and I love to load on the misery.

****

Mira: *kills someone*

****

Sirius: Hi, Mira.

****

Mira: Dammit, why didn't I get to kill him?

****

Sirius: *shrugs*

****

Mara: I have to keep him for the misery. Deal with it.

****

Mira: *kills another person*

Anyway…^_^…What will Voldie do to his nemisises? ****

Me: Might be answered in the next chapter…or the one after that. Who knows, I keep putting it off, stupid me…

****

Mara: Yeah, I'm being chained to a pole so I only work on the Mara/Sirius line for the moment. No misery from Voldie.

****

Lara: Why don't I get any big story lines? My only job is to fill in all the horrible puns!

****

Mara: Live with it.

****

Lara: Is that your favorite thing to say or something?

****

Mara: Of course! Did you just figure that out?

****

Lara: Damn you, I can't kill anyone! I'm the humor muse!

****

Mara: Hehe.

And…just for a random question…will I _ever_ make any progress in the Lily/James area? ****

Me: Who knows? Oh, and I intend _that_ story line to be _happy_, MARA…

****

Mara: *gulps*

****

Me: …So you just might get a big story line, Lara.

****

Lara: *hugs Me*

****

Me: Aw…thanks.

Okies, bye-bye, everybody, until ze next chapter!

~Hermione2


	7. Mira, Sirius, and Presents for All

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The Marauders of Hogwarts

A/N: Hey, everybody! Sorry about the wait for this chapter…I just got a new computer a few days ago, and I have to transfer my writing to it on floppy disks, if I want to upload it online, because I still write my stuff on the old computer, and I keep forgetting to put chapters on the floppy disk. And besides that…I'm just playing with the new computer, because it's a lot better than the old one, so I don't get on the old one as much. ^_^

Hugs for **Emily Potter**, **SiriDragon **(wow, LONG review O_o), and **Loki-goddess of destruction**, cuz I love everybody who reviews! *hugs*

__

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, the best writer EVER!!! And I mean EVER! All the characters, places, etc. that you don't recognize belong to me. Get it, got it, good.

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****

Chapter 7

Mira, Sirius and Presents for All

"Hi, Mira. Merry Christmas!" someone said, while Mira was having lunch, on December 24th, three days after the incident with Sirius.

"Oh, hi, Raven." Mira looked up with a smile on her face as Raven Faye, a Ravenclaw (wow, the name matches, hehe) and her best friend, slid into the seat next to her at the Gryffindor table.

"So what is this about you hating Sirius Black?"

"Oh, God, not again. Can't anyone leave me alone about that?!"

"Sorry, sorry," Raven said. "But I don't even know why you suddenly hate him. Personally, I thought you liked him."

"Argh…"

"What _happened?_"

"He said he liked me."

"He did??" Raven squealed. "I'm so happy for you! The Marauders are like, the hottest guys in our year!"

"When the whole Gryffindor common room watching."

"But why do you hate him?"

"What do you mean, why do I hate him? He basically broadcasted to a fourth of Hogwarts, and anybody that they tell, that he likes me! Something…_personal_ like that! How could he do that to me???"

"But it's so sweet! And not as many people are here for the holidays, you know."

"Oh…blah." Mira walked quickly out of the Great Hall. She didn't want to stomp, or run or anything, for fear that someone (God forbid!) would actually notice her leaving.

***

In the Gryffindor girls' dormitory that evening, Mira thought over that conversation.

She sighed. Raven had gotten so different lately. It seemed like all she thought about was how cool certain people in second year were, whether or not she looked like a dork, and boys. And she'd gotten meaner and blunter about things too. She called so many people dorks--and some of those people were Mira's friends, even if they weren't Raven's. And Mira was so shy that it felt like Raven was leaving her behind to get closer to more…self-confident people.

But Raven wouldn't leave her behind…Raven was her best friend. This was just her pessimistic side talking. Mira sighed. She wished Ella, her other best friend from Ravenclaw, had stayed at Hogwarts for the holidays. She knew Ella still liked her, and Ella agreed with her about the being-mean-thing. There wasn't anyone else she could talk with about it.

Then, she started thinking about Sirius, and began to write something.

***

Sirius was playing wizard chess with James, which was something he loved to do. He always beat James, because James was horrible at it. And other people usually beat Sirius, so he felt even better when he beat James. 

"Checkmate," Sirius said briefly, and while James was busy rolling around on the floor doing dramatic mimes of killing himself, Sirius saw Mira walking over. He gulped.

Then, however, he got very confused, since Mira set a folded piece of paper down in front of him, with a curious absence of expression on her face, and walked out of the portrait hole.

He looked at the paper cautiously, and then poked it with a chess piece (it was knight that said, "Excuse me! Why are you picking me up? You've already won the game, you idiot!) to see if it would injure him if he touched it. Nothing happened to the knight, so he assumed it was safe, and picked up the paper and unfolded it. It said:

__

Sirius,

One of the many things I hate about me is that I can't stay mad at ANYONE for a long time…Well, except this one girl…But that's a long story. I can't stay mad at most people.

So basically, I've forgiven you. I was an idiot anyway for being mad at you in the first place. And don't ask me to go into detail about WHY I'm an idiot, because then you're pushing it. I'll light your bum on fire.

And I like you too…just so you know.

"YES!" Sirius said. The people in the common room, who had been staring at James doing mimes of killing himself, were now suddenly all staring at him. "Hello!" he said brightly, and left the common room through the portrait hole.

Everybody shrugged and returned to what they were doing.

***

As Sirius rocketed out of the portrait hole, he accidentally knocked over--guess who!--Mira, who was there, you know, _just by chance_. Sirius managed to catch her before she hit her head on the floor, though.

"Oh….oh…er…hi," she managed to get out. "LookIunderstandifyouthinkIamanidiotandyouneverwanttotalktomeagain--" she said, and then cut off abruptly as he kissed her lightly on the lips. Mira gaped like a surprised fish. "What the--uh--well--that is--uh…Snowy outside, isn't it?" She blinked at what had just come out of her mouth.

"You're cute when you get nervous," Sirius said, grinning.

"So, I guess we're kinda stuck with each other now, huh?" Mira said, smiling.

"Yes, I think so. Save me."

Mira laughed and hugged him.

***

The next morning, Mira was up very early in the morning, which was very strange for her, since normally she liked to sleep until two in the afternoon, even on Christmas. Even more strangely, she was dancing around singing Christmas songs at the top of her lungs very early in the morning.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open slei-eigh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way--" Lily threw a pillow at her as she woke up, and then Thea woke up and jumped off her bed to join Mira.

"Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh! Hey!" they sang/yelled in unison, and started another one. "Deck the halls with boughs of holly, falalalalalalalala! 'Tis the season to be jolly, falalalalalalalala! Don we now our gay apparel--" They cut off as Bella threw a pillow at them too, but Fiona was still sleeping. "Nah, let's do the fun version," Mira said thoughtfully. Grinning, she sang, "Deck the halls with gasoline, falalalalalalalala! Light a match and watch it gleam, falalalalalalalala!"

"I don't know this one," Thea said in disappointment.

"Hm…must be just an American thing," Mira said in disappointment. "I didn't know that…Ooh! I'll make up a new one then! Deck Mrs. Norris with gasoline, falalalalalalalala! Light a match and watch it gleam, falalalalalalalala! Burn Mrs. Norris down to ashes, falalalalalalalala! Aren't you glad you played with matches? Falalalalalalalala!"

Even Fiona was awake by this time, and everybody had started laughing at the words "burn Mrs. Norris down to ashes."

"Why are so happy this morning, anyway, Mira?" Fiona said, raking a hand through her hair.

"It's Christmas!"

"Hm…you sure that's it?"

"Actually that's not the only reason--" Suddenly, the door to the dormitory slammed open and two people in long black hooded cloaks stood there. No one could see their faces. All five girls screamed.

"Hullo!" Sirius said brightly, putting back his hood.

"Oh, damn you, Sirius Black," Mira said, but grinning so widely that it wasn't menacing at all.

"Same to you, dahling, same to you," he said, putting his arm around her shoulder. "See, I got the hot one, Remus!" he said.

"Eh, shut up, Sirius," Remus said good-naturedly.

"Would this be why you were bouncing around singing Christmas songs, Mira?" Bella said, grinning. "Congrats on making her cave, Sirius."

"Hey, I caved all by myself because I'm nice!" Mira said indignantly. "Black here had nothing to do with it!" Everybody laughed. "What?" More laughs. "Eh, whatever."

"Haven't you lot even opened your presents yet?" Remus said. "Tsk, tsk," he said, waving a finger at them. "I am disgusted."

"PRESENTS!!!!!!" Thea squealed, diving into her pile. 

"Yeah, I want presents," Mira said, throwing Sirius' arm off her shoulder and diving at hers.

"Good, good, that's the way to do it," Remus said, frowning at the girls who were just now getting off their beds.

Thea had already ripped through half her presents, but Mira was only on the third one out of ten or so.

"C'mon, Mira! Move! Move! Move!" Sirius said as Mira opened her fourth present.

"Do you have any _idea_ how many curses I know, Sirius?" she said, picking up the fifth one.

"Yes," Sirius said in a small voice, and shut up.

She opened the sixth one, smiling as she saw a present from her parents and a letter, and then there was the last one… "Wow, Sirius. I've been your girlfriend for one _day--_one bloody _day_--and you get me _this_?" she breathed, holding up a beautiful necklace with a silver-colored chain. 

Thea spoiled the effect, though, by giggling a little. "Americans sound funny when they say bloody." Mira glared at her.

"Yep, I get you that," Sirius said. "Actually didn't cost much," he said, grinning.

"Thanks!" Mira hugged him. "I don't care if it costed much. You got me something."

"Oh, and that reminds me…What did you get me? Hmmmm?" Sirius said, looking down at her sternly (he was half a head taller than her).

"Er…"

"What was that?"

"You're one of the Beaters on the Quidditch team, right?" Mira said weakly.

"Yes…" Sirius said. He'd tried out a month into the school year, along with James and Lily (A/N: I forgot to mention the Quidditch tryouts…stupid me *hits self* Lol.), and had got one of the Beater positions. James was the Seeker, and Lily was the Keeper.

"Then you'll be able to hit me very hard…Save me," Mira said, and hid behind Thea.

"You didn't get me a present?" Sirius said. "I'm so hurt!"

"Oh, I'll get you one later, you spoiled person."

"I'm not spoiled!"

"Look at that!" Remus said brightly. "You already fight like an old married couple!" Mira and Sirius glared at him.

"We both attack him at the same time, you think?" Mira said to Sirius.

"Yes, I think so."

"Please don't--" Remus pleaded, and gulped as he saw them take out their wands.

"_Furnunculus!_" Mira yelled. She was one of the curse experts of the second-year Gryffindors. Sirius used Jelly-Legs.

Remus fell over, unconscious, and he seemed to have sprouted little tentacles all over his face.

Mira gave Sirius a high-five. "That'll teach him."

"No…" Sirius said. He dragged Remus out the door and set him up so he would block people higher up in the tower from coming down to the common room and they would see him, and put a sign that said, **HELP. NEEDING SOMETHING TO TAKE CARE OF MY ZITS. THEY ARE SO LARGE THEY LOOK LIKE LITTLE TENTACLES,** then said, "…_That_ will teach him."

***

Later in the day, Mira presented Sirius with…a scarf.

"You're not good with gifts, are you?" he said.

"No, not really… but it's a Gryffindor scarf!"

"A _Gryffindor_ scarf, you said? Good present. Now, if you'd gotten me a Slytherin one, I might have to hurt you…" Mira laughed.

***

The day after Christmas, Sirius said, "Okay, you know how I was talking about Remus' mother always being sick?"

"Yes…" Mira said slowly.

"And you gave me a clue about that…"

"Yeah…"

"Well, Lily went and thought about it, but frankly, I didn't get it."

Mira smiled. "Typical."

"So…do you _know_ what's wrong with Remus' mother?"

"Well…nothing's wrong with Remus' mother. It's Remus who has a problem," Mira whispered, glancing furtively around the common room to make sure no one was listening.

"_What?_ What problem could he have?"

"…He's a werewolf."

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A/N: Yay! Go me! I finished the chapter! And ooh, nice cliffie there, right? Lol, I'm so conceited.

And I might do some Voldie-evilness in the next chapter! Ooooh, fun Voldie…hehe.

Merry late Christmas, Happy late Hannukah and Kwanza, and Happy New Year! ^_^

~Hermione2


	8. Problems

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The Marauders of Hogwarts

A/N: Yay! I've posted the eighth chapter! Sorry about the fairly long delay in getting it out…but you know school. *grimace*

Thanks to…SiriDragon (I don't mind long reviews! I live on them! ^_^) and Loki (no goddess of destruction part cuz I'm lazy today…don't hurt me :D) And Olivia, if you're reading this…I hate you, dammit!

Everybody else: Ignore that. I don't hate _you!_ *hugs*

Note: The stuff in italics at the beginning of the chapter is the end of the last chapter, and I'll continue from there, in plain type. I have a few details in there that weren't in the last chapter, but oh well.

__

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, the best writer EVER!!! And I mean EVER! All the characters, places, etc. that you don't recognize belong to me. Get it, got it, good.

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Chapter Eight

Problems

__

"So…do you know_ what's wrong with Remus' mother?"_

"Well…nothing's wrong with Remus' mother. It's Remus who has a problem," Mira whispered, glancing furtively around the common room to make sure no one was listening.

"What? What problem could he have?" Sirius asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.

There was a pause, and then Mira replied slowly, "…He's a werewolf."

"WHAT?!?!??!" Sirius yelled in shock. Less and less people looked up at the sound of his yells every day, as they were growing used to it by now. However, a few people still did, and he waved them off before continuing in a softer voice. "_What?_ How do you know?"

"Well…I confirmed my theory about it about a month ago," Mira said softly. "To put it in a nutshell, I was suspicious about him always disappearing about once a month, so I thought about it, and realized that the full moon comes about once a month too. And then, I looked out the window when he disappeared that month, _and it was a full moon._ Disappearing, full moon--not hard to figure out."

Sirius just sat there with his mouth slightly open.

"You okay, Sirius?" Mira asked, looking anxious.

"Poor Remus!" he finally exclaimed.

"Yeah…"

"And if you found out a month ago, were you planning to actually tell any of us, so we could _help_ him?"

"But how are we supposed to help him? There's no cure for…for being a werewolf," she said, lowering her voice at the latter part of the sentence.

"I'll think of something," Sirius said, looking determined.

"Okay, Sirius," Mira said, but she looked doubtful.

***

"Hm…I want some way to _bait _that Spirit Healer idiot…" Voldemort said one day. "Venyetta, what do you think is the best way to hurt that Spirit Healer girl?"

"Hm…I'd say get into her head, but she can't magic you out of her head, because it's _her_ in trouble, right?" Venyetta said, after thinking for a moment. She was almost his right-hand Death Eater by now.

"I always knew you were my smartest Death Eater," Voldemort said happily. "Right then…"

***

Mira and Sirius were in the library, looking at books about werewolfs.

"Wait a second," Mira said suddenly.

"What?"

"I've got it!"

"What?"

"I've got how we can help!"

"How?"

"We can--Oh my God, I just got a headache…" Mira held her head. Stabbing pains had suddenly started in her head. "Oh my God, what's _with_ this headache? It has to be the worst one I've ever gotten…Ow…" 

"This isn't the time for a headache, Mira!" Sirius said exasperatedly. "How do we help Remus?"

"No, really, Sirius--I think something's wrong here--"

__

I know who you are, Spirit Healer. A high, cold voice was suddenly speaking in her head, and Mira gasped as Sirius' face in front of her flickered in and out of focus. 

As Sirius watched in confusion, Mira's eyes started to turn…gold? 

"What the…"

Mira was holding her head, and she was in horrible pain. On one side, Sirius was talking, but at the same time, on the other side, blackness was trying to pull her away from the table in the library, to some unknown place, and the voice was saying, _Don't try to fight me…_

Then, Sirius remembered. Lily's eyes had turned a different color too, at the Halloween feast last year, just before she screamed and blood spurted out of her arm. And that was because of…Voldemort.

"Damn Voldemort!" he muttered under his breath. "What do I do now?" he said, looking at Mira. But Mira seemed unable to answer at the moment. 

Suddenly, though, Mira surprised him by saying, "Get…help…Dumbledore…anybody…" Then, her eyes turned completely gold, and Sirius left her at the table as he sprinted out of the library.

***

__

Mira was fighting the blackness as hard as she could, but then it pulled her away. Her feet slammed down on something hard, and she almost fell over, but struggled to stand up and succeeded. And she saw that she was inside a well-furnished room that looked like a living room or the like, and right in front of her, there was a man and a woman. The woman had black hair, bright green eyes and a very satisfied smile, and was standing beside the man, who was sitting in a leather armchair. He was thin and black-haired, and his dark blue eyes stared coldly at her.

"I told you not to fight me," the man hissed. So, this was Voldemort.

Mira said, in a somewhat shaky voice, "I know you did, but I don't always listen to directions."

Venyetta saw the brown-haired girl struggle to keep standing up, and inwardly admired her determination at such a young age, but said mockingly, "Oh, rebellious, are we?"

__

Mira, ignoring the woman, said to Voldemort, "What are you going to do with me?"

"I wanted to give you a warning," Voldemort said slowly. "Listen carefully, little girl."

Mira seethed with anger at the 'little girl' comment, but based on Lily's experiences with Voldemort, she thought that it was probably wise not to challenge Voldemort any further. But maybe he would hurt her anyway. She tried to keep herself from trembling.

"I want you to stop helping Evans," Voldemort said, slowly and clearly. "And I want you to stop helping her now."

Forgetting what was wise, Mira blurted, "I'll never_ do that! You're insane!"_

"Hm…you won't do it?" Voldemort said. "Well, I guess I'll just have to make _you do it…"_

***

Sirius ran all the way to Dumbledore's office, and was in such a hurry that he nearly ran full tilt into the gargoyle that guarded it. He hadn't been to Dumbledore's office since last year…

"J…Jeh…Jelly Bellies," he panted. The gargoyle didn't move.

What was it James had told him the password was? Sirius racked his brains in panic, and then, in complete despair, he said randomly, "Acid Pop!"

The gargoyle jumped aside.

Sirius blinked for a moment before running up the stairs. _Why would anyone _want_ to get a hole burned in their tongue?_ He wondered blankly.

Finally, he got to the large door with the golden knocker, and without even stopping to knock, he banged the door open and shouted, "Professor Dumbledore, there's a big, big, big, big, big BIG problem!"

Dumbledore, who was sitting at his desk, looked up calmly and peered at Sirius over the tops of his half-moon shaped spectacles. And somehow Sirius felt a bit calmer, even though he shouldn't. "What indescribably gigantic problem would this be, Mr. Black?"

"The same thing that happened to Lily last year…it's happening to Mira, right now, in the library."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows. "That is serious indeed," he said, rising very quickly for such an old man and saying, "We shall go to the library at once."

Sirius took the stairs two at a time on the way down; Dumbledore went down somewhat more slowly, but his long legs helped him keep up.

People had stared at Sirius very strangely while he was running, at full speed, to Dumbledore's office, and people stared even more now that Dumbledore was involved, as the two of them traveled through the halls (Sirius ran, Dumbledore speed-walked).

In a few minutes, Sirius rushed into the library, over to the little table where Mira was still sitting, her eyes colored pure gold. Curiously, she didn't appear to have screamed, as Lily had in the Great Hall last year, attracting so much attention. She was simply mumbling something, in a frightened sounding voice, and hadn't attracted as much attention as Sirius did, for example, running out of the library. And besides that, it was a table that happened to be rather isolated from the rest, so not many people could even see her.

Dumbledore got there a few seconds later, and looked serious. 

"I've only tried this spell a few times, but it's worth a go," he said, and held up his wand, muttering something. Suddenly, a blue light shot out of the wand, going straight for Mira.

***

__

Voldemort, with a sort of evil amusement in his eyes, pulled out his wand, and pointed it straight at Mira. Mira tried to move, but her feet seemed to be stuck to the floor.

"Believe me, you'll never help that Mudblood brat again with the proper…persuasion," Voldemort hissed, twirling his wand between his fingers. "Cru--_"_

Just then, Mira disappeared, and Voldemort cursed.

"Who helped her _now?_" he yelled. "Damn your plan, Venyetta!"

The Seer was looking rather put out.

***

Mira's eyes suddenly turned from gold to brown again, and the frightened mumbling she had been doing stopped.

"Th-Thank--Thank you, Professor D-Dumbledore," she stammered. "But…but what did you do? I didn't know you could get a person out of that any way but with Spirit Healer powers."

"And that's quite right, Miss Gonzalez," Dumbledore said. "I simply know a spell that lets me borrow the power from a Spirit Healer who I have working for me."

"Really? Is it a Jimnez you have working for you? That's the only other family that I knew did Spirit Healing."

"Well, yes, actually."

"Oh." Mira didn't seem to want to know any more.

"Glad that worked out alright," Sirius said. 

Mira smiled. "Thanks, Sirius."

***

"My God, that was horrible," Mira said later, to Lily. "I think he was going to torture me."

"Wouldn't be surprised," Lily said. "Did he even say why he'd gotten you?"

"…No, that lousy git," Mira said fervently. Although Voldemort had been going to torture her to make her stop helping Lily, she didn't want Lily to know that and feel like it was her fault, because it had happened simply because Voldemort was a lousy git. So at least part of what she was saying was true.

Lily said softly, "I'm sorry. He _is_ a git. A lousy, horrible git."

Mira, to cheer Lily up, said with a small grin, "Yeah. He's a lousy, horrible, mean, conceited, stupid…evil, idiotic…retarded…incompetent git," using all the insulting words she could think of.

Lily smiled. "Yes, that's right. You get a gold star for good work!"

Mira grinned, wider this time.

***

For a whole month, Mira tried not to think about _anything _serious. When she was with her friends, she succeeded very well, and even got pretty hyper. But when she was alone, she sighed--and thought about a lot of serious things. For example, how Voldemort might attack her again…but for some reason, what was more important was how Raven seemed to be getting even more distant with her. 

Mira had spotted her talking to various Slytherins, and she talked about them all the time when she was with Mira. She seemed unable to carry on a good conversation anymore. Mira tried to be nice to the Slytherins for Raven's sake, as they seemed to like her, but it didn't do much, since most of them still laughed at her, like they always had since she came to Hogwarts. "Mudblood," they said. "Know-it-all." But Mira couldn't help being smart or Muggle-born. It was just the way she was.

Also, it seemed that over a very short period of time Raven had become as nasty as Lucius Malfoy around people who weren't Slytherins or Ella and Mira. She was even rather scornful of the Marauders and their friends now. "They're so _weird_. Why are you friends with them, Mira? I mean, no offense, I know Sirius Black's your boyfriend and all…" she said once.

"I…I dunno," Mira said evasively, because she didn't want to be mean to Raven. Raven didn't seem to notice how Mira was struggling not to yell, _No, they aren't! And anyone nice wouldn't give a damn if they were, you superficial idiot!_

All in all, she had various things to worry about by the time it was January 25th, a month after Christmas.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N: In the next chapter, I'll have a couple more funny things, since this chapter was unusually serious for me. And I think I'll put a few other people's points of view in there, whatever happens…And yay! I finally got in some Voldie evilness! Whew!

And just to remind you of the questions you can torture yourself with while I veeeeeerrrryyy sllllloooooooowwwwwwwllllyyyy write the next chapter…*evil grin* Here they are:

What can people do to help Remus? Will Voldie strike again? And will it be fatal this time? Am I _ever_ going to say anything else about James' powers? *slaps self* What is Raven's problem? Hehe, Raven the Ravenclaw, kinda catchy. =) 

~Hermione2


	9. Any Time

The Marauders of Hogwarts

A/N: OMG, I am back! ((cartwheels)) I know I haven't been writing fanfiction in a YEAR but I've been very busy with school and whatnot…And anyway, I missed it after a while. I know my old reviewers probably won't come back because I've been so lazy, but I hope some new people are reading this and will take the time to review!

Okay, I'm going to write this chapter as fast as I can, just in case my old reviewers will forgive me! :D And some responses in case you come back…

Killer Angel: Thanks for reviewing…and we'll just wait and see who's "dark on the inside"…evil laugh Lol.

Lady Siri: Thanks for the review!

Dreamer the Mistwolf: Woohoo for the most faithful reviewer! I just read one of your fics, next chapter please! :p Although you seem to be gone too…is sad

Starborn: OK, well I'm writing more, I'm extremely late, I know…hangs head heh.

Dathrian Princess (who also seems to have left…): Thanks for the review if you're still on this site!

Taylorangel72: hm…not sure how many chapters I'm gonna do cuz I just started writing this again…And I've updated! :D

Okay, well, that's all the peeps who reviewed my last chapter…

I hope some people come to read this one!

OK, and just for a recap on the last chapter: Mira figured out Remus is a werewolf, but before she could tell Sirius how to help him, Voldemort got into her head and almost managed to start torturing her so she would stop helping Lily. But Dumbledore rescued her because Sirius got him. And then…Well, Mira didn't tell Lily the whole thing was about Mira helping her because she didn't want to make her feel bad, Raven's getting really mean, and Mira's wondering if dear old Voldie will attack her again. Right then. Recap over.

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, the best writer EVER!!! And I mean EVER! All the characters, places, etc. that you don't recognize belong to me. Get it, got it, good.

* * *

Chapter 9 (OMG I CONTINUED! Heh)

Any Time

"Mira," Sirius said, near the end of January, "I've just thought of something."

"Yes?"

"Well, I forgot about it before, but right before Voldemort…threatened you…" Mira shuddered. "Sorry about reminding you," Sirius said hastily, "but…you said there was a way we could help Remus."

Mira's eyes widened. "Wow, Sirius, I completely forgot about that! Thanks for reminding me." She gave him a kiss on the cheek. He grinned.

"So…"

"So what?"

"So WHAT WAS IT???" Sirius cried impatiently. People's heads turned, but when they saw it was Sirius Black they sighed and went back to what they'd been doing.

"Well," Mira said cautiously, "it would take a long time, and it would be really hard. Are you sure you still want to help?"

"Well YES," Sirius said, "don't you?"

She said, "Well, yes, of course I do! But the only way I thought of that we can help him would be…to become Animagi."

"Anima-_what?_" Sirius had never heard the word before.

"Animagi," Mira said impatiently. "Honestly, for a pure-blood wizard, you don't know much."

Sirius grinned. "Well, that's what I have a smart person like you for."

Mira laughed. "So anyway," she said, "Animagi are wizards who can turn into animals whenever they want. But it takes lots of work to become an Animagus. But, if one of us managed it and transformed into a big enough animal, we could keep Remus company when he…transformed. It wouldn't cure him or anything, but he might be grateful."

Silence. Then Sirius said, "That's brilliant!"

Mira smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah, really! But…I think we should probably ask Remus about this, right? I mean, we might be wrong anyway! We could have been worrying all this time for nothing!"

Mira said, "Well, yeah, we should ask him. I guess you could be right that he's not," but she knew it wasn't true…She sighed. Poor Remus…

* * *

The next morning, Lily, Thea, and Mira walked down to breakfast together.

"Isn't this a beautiful morning?" Thea chirped as they came down the main staircase.

Mira groaned. She was most definitely not a morning person. "Sure, Thea, but I prefer night myself."

"But why?" Thea asked. "Morning is so bright and sunshiny—"

A groan from Lily. "Honestly, Thea, you are insane."

"Who's insane? I just am a morning person!" Thea stuck her tongue out at Lily.

Mira laughed as they walked into the Great Hall, but then suddenly stopped laughing as she looked over at the Ravenclaw table.

Ella, one of her friends from Ravenclaw, was having a furious shouting match with another girl. And Mira saw who that other girl was: Raven Faye.

What could they be fighting about? She approached them, shocked, but neither girl noticed her as they continued fighting and most of the Great Hall looked on.

"How could you say that about me and Mira?" Ella yelled. "I thought you were a friend!"

"Well, you're just an ugly nerd, and Mira's such a shy bookworm!" Raven yelled. "How am I ever going to have any friends if you two keep hanging around?"

Mira gasped. This was Raven Faye, standing there saying those things about her and Ella. Raven Faye, who'd been her friend when the Gryffindors just didn't understand her in first year. Raven Faye, who she'd had some of the best times of her life with. Raven Faye…who, over the past couple of months, had been more and more of a jerk.

She should have seen this coming. But she hadn't.

She rushed up and yelled at Raven, "You JERK! How long have you just been _waiting_ to ditch me? And if by friends you mean _Slytherins_, you're welcome to them! _We_ won't be hanging around you anymore!" Oh God. She was starting to cry. "Come on, Ella!" she yelled, and grabbing her friend's arm, she dragged Ella over to the Gryffindor table.

"Hi, you guys," she said furiously as she plopped into a seat, trying to stop herself from crying. The Marauders and Amazons, who had all gotten to breakfast, looked at her cautiously from their various seats near her.

"You all right, Mira?" Bella asked. Mira nodded, although it wasn't very convincing.

"You want to sit down?" Lily asked Ella.

Quietly, Ella said, "Sure," and sat next to Mira. Then she said, "Come on, Mira, she's not worth getting upset over. Cheer up."

Mira sniffed. "What did she say about us anyway, that you two got into a fight over?"

Ella looked extremely annoyed. "She was saying some crap to the Slytherins about how we weren't really her friends and she was going to ditch us soon…God, I'm angry at her." She looked ready to beat someone up. The Marauders cringed and hoped it wouldn't be them. She looked like she had that wiry sort of strength.

"Don't worry, be happy," Thea said brightly, conjured up some sunflowers, and handed them to Mira.

Mira laughed weakly. "Thanks, Thea."

"Any time!"

* * *

That afternoon, Sirius found Remus in their dormitory. "Er, Remus, I've got something to ask you about…You busy?"

"'Lo Sirius. Just looking for a book. What is it?" Remus answered, not looking away from the drawer he was looking in.

"Er…well…what's up with your mum? Does she really get sick…once a month?"

Remus straightened up and turned around quickly, seeming nervous. "Why do you ask? I mean, it's not once a month anyway."

"Well, because…I think I know what's wrong, Remus."

"Oh no, you couldn't. Her disease, it's very…erm…rare."

"Well, first of all, it's something to do with _you_, not your mum."

Remus said nervously, "W-what are you talking about?"

"I…you're a…a werewolf, aren't you?"

Remus' voice was shaking. "Does anyone else know?"

"Mira does. She figured it out."

Remus' eyes widened, and he took a step backward. "Look, Sirius, I know what you must think, but I—"

"Look, I'm not going to tell anyone you don't want me to tell," Sirius said impatiently. "I just wondered…I mean, that must be horrible. Do you want any help?"

Remus looked taken aback. "Er—what?"

"Well, what did you think we were going to do when we found out? Burn you at the stake?"

"Why not? People hate werewolves," Remus said sadly. "But—help? Well—I don't see how you could help me, but…thank you for not telling anyone. Thanks, Sirius."

"Any time."

* * *

A/N: So…yay! Remus is going to get some help! And I WROTE A CHAPTER! ((has a party)) Woohoo.

Mara: You slacker. It's so short.

Me: Shut up, muse. I wrote it. :D

--Hermione21


	10. Animagi and Property Damage

****

The Marauders of Hogwarts

A/N: Okay, I just heard, reading a story on here, that apparently responses to reviews aren't allowed…so I guess I won't do that from now on. But thanks to everybody who reviewed back when this story actually got reviews…lol. Hasn't gotten any more reviews yet, but I guess I'll keep hoping…((crosses fingers))

By the way, I've decided to make this chapter nice and long instead of my takes-2-minutes-to-read last chapter. If it's still not long enough for you when I'm done, review and complain so I can get some reviews. :D

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, the best writer EVER!!! And I mean EVER! All the characters, places, etc. that you don't recognize belong to me. Get it, got it, good.

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Chapter 10

Animagi and Property Damage

"So do you want to tell James and Peter?" Sirius had asked Remus. "They could help too."

"Well…I guess," Remus had answered nervously. So tonight he was going to.

It was around eleven in the Gryffindor 2nd year boys' domitory.

"Er…I've got something to tell all of you," Remus began cautiously.

"Well, fire away, then!" James said, munching a cookie he'd gotten from the kitchens. He passed one from the bag to Peter. "What is it?"

Remus hesitated. Ever since he had become a werewolf, no one—besides his parents, anyway—had ever stood by him once they found out. Very few people found out these days, of course, but when he had been bitten, everyone who knew began to treat him differently—like he wasn't the same person, like he'd suddenly become a different one. Some people would be afraid of him when it wasn't even a full moon, and Remus had learned to defend himself when other people insulted him.

He'd known at once, when Dumbledore had shown them that prophecy last year, that he was the one _dark on the outside, but not on the inside._ People judged him when they found out because werewolves were considered "dark creatures," but he didn't want to hurt anyone. But almost no one took more than one glance before judging someone who was a werewolf. Remus hadn't had many friends until he came to Hogwarts. Here, he'd almost felt normal again. He was grateful to Dumbledore for letting him come, and almost didn't mind that there had to be special arrangements for him.

"Come on, Remus," Sirius said encouragingly.

"Yes, tell! I'm getting really curious," Peter said.

James nodded, taking another cookie.

"Well…I…" Remus paused. "I decided there's something you all should know, because…you've been such great friends."

"Don't mention it!" James said, waving a hand and grinning.

Remus laughed nervously and swallowed. "Well, er…I'm…I'm a werewolf."

James choked on his cookie.

"What?!" Peter exclaimed.

Remus looked down at his feet. This didn't seem to be going too well. "I'm a werewolf," he said quietly. "I just though you all should know, so I understand if…you don't want to talk to me anymore.

There was a pause.

"Of course we still want to talk to you, you prat!" James said, rolling his eyes.

"R-really?"

"YES!"

Remus sighed in relief. "Well…thank you. You guys…you have to be the best friends I've ever had."

"Well don't get all sappy with us, Remus!" Peter said in disgust.

Everyone laughed.

(())(())(())__

A couple weeks later, James was having a lesson with Professor Dumbledore, to practice his telepathy. He'd been having lessons on this twice a week ever since Dumbledore had discovered that he was telepathic in the middle of September. What with homework, telepathy, being the seeker for the Gryffindor quidditch team, and still trying to plan pranks, James was extremely busy.

"Okay, levitate the mug. I've filled it with rocks this time," Dumbledore said.

James glared at it. It had to be the heaviest damn mug filled with rocks in the universe. It seemed that way, at least, when you were trying to lift it with your mind. He envied Dumbledore, who simply had to stand there and direct him.

He strained, concentrating. _Lift the mug. _It jerked a couple of millimeters in the air and then clunked down on Dumbledore's desk again. _Lift the mug. Lift the damn heavy mug._

Suddenly, he got extremely frustrated, and the mug flew up and smashed a hole in the ceiling before he could stop it. James, wincing, covered his head as the rocks flew out and fell all over the room, smashing a few things. The mug fell too, and shattered on the floor.

He gulped. "Erm…Sorry, Professor. I…er…didn't mean to lift it so quick."

Professor Dumbledore said, "Well, obviously you don't have much trouble lifting something with that weight. It's a pity I didn't give you that hideous mug I got from my brother Aberforth." The corner of his mouth twitched. "Something…er…frustrating you?"

"Well, yes!" James said, surprising himself. "You said you were telepathic too, but you haven't demonstrated anything yourself. You just let me lift things and wear myself out while you tell me what to do!" _Shouldn't have said that…_ "Erm…sir. Professor."

Dumbledore's mouth twitched again. "Do you want me to lift something, Mr. Potter?"

"Oh, no, er—I didn't mean it, Professor—"

"No trouble at all," Dumbledore said, and without another word levitated his entire desk, complete with all the things heaped on it.

James gaped. "Isn't that heavy?"

"Well, Mr. Potter, it's just an example of what you could learn to do if you continue."

James thought about levitating Severus Snape and watching him shriek. "Sounds good, Professor."

"And this is a good chance to develop your skills. Levitate the rocks and move them over onto my desk."

James did so without further question.

(())(())(())

(A/N: Now, I bet everyone misses dear old Voldie…heh.)

While James was levitating the rocks, Lord Voldemort was throwing a party for all his evil villain friends. He had friends in the Muggle world, and even friends in different worlds.

"How is it in Disney Cartoon World?" Voldemort asked one of his friends.

"Wretched, dah-ling," Cruella DeVille said. "I just can't find any good fur coats. People seem to have the idea that they're inhumane. What nonsense!"

"I prefer silk, myself," Cinderella's stepmother said.

Voldemort didn't like all this talk of clothes. He liked machine guns better. And, of course, the Unforgiveable Curses_._ They were such a wonderful way to promote loyalty in his followers.

"How's life as an evil dark lord, Sauron?" he asked his friend from Middle Earth.

"Oh, wonderful. When I have the Ring, no one can stand against me," Sauron said.

"So how are your nemesises, Voldie?" Dr. Evil asked him. "I'm not happy about losing all that money, you know." He frowned.

"Oh, they're sickeningly happy and healthy," Voldemort grumbled. "And how many times have I told you NOT TO CALL ME VOLDIE??"

Dr. Evil winced. "Oh, um, sorry, Voldi—um, Voldemort."

"Thank you," Voldemort said. "You know, I'm just wondering, why are they all so…so…TALENTED?! I found out that one's a Spirit Healer, and one has telepathy, and there's one who's a werewolf, but he's much too disgustingly good-hearted to come over to my side. And then there's that Evans brat. She's got huge potential…"

Dr. Evil shook his head sympathetically.

(())(())(())

"So, everyone," Sirius said, "I've thought of a way we can help Remus."

"Really?" Remus said.

"You liar, I thought of it!" Mira said. She was sitting in the boys' dormitory next to Sirius.

Sirius grinned. "Well, a little white lie every now and then doesn't hurt anyone."

"So…what's the plan for Moony then?" James said. The Marauders had taken to calling Remus Moony after finding out that he was a werewolf.

"Okay." Mira paused importantly and cleared her throat. "Here's the idea: we can become Anamagi!"

"Anima-what?" the Marauders all said.

Mira sighed. "Wizards who can turn into animals. Then people can keep Remus company and make sure he doesn't eat anyone, or anything like that."

"Brilliant!" Peter said.

Mira beamed.

"So how do we do that?" James asked.

"I'm…er…not sure," Mira admitted.

Sirius smirked.

"Well, let's research it then!" James cried. "Starting tomorrow!"

(())(())(())

After looking in her crystal ball, Venyetta said, "Four of your nemesises have decided to become Anamagi, my Lord."

"Dammit!" Voldemort said. "If they become Anamagi as well, they'll be entirely too powerful! I have to put them out of action before they can get that strong! Which ones have decided this, Venyetta?"

"The Spirit Healer girl, the telepathic boy, and two others."

Voldemort thought. "The Spirit Healer is one of the most dangerous ones already. I'll have to do something about her."

(())(())(())

At breakfast the next day, Lily and James got into an argument. It all started with Lily walked in and said, "Hi, Jamesiekinns," before sitting down across from him.

"Don't call me Jamesiekinns," James said at once.

"But it's so much fun, Jamesiekinns," Lily replied, grinning.

"Don't call me Jamesiekinns!"

"Okay…Jamesiekinns."

"DON'T CALL ME JAMESIEKINNS!!!" James roared.

Lily faked a shocked expression and said, "Temper, temper, Jamesiekinns!"

"ARGH!!!!!" James said. A couple of people were looking on and giggling.

At that moment, a white owl flew in and began to wing its way toward Mira, who was walking toward the Gryffindor table. It was holding a round package wrapped in brown paper.

Lily got as far as "Why don't you like your nickname, Jamesie—" before the owl dropped the package. Mira looked up and put out her hands to catch it, and suddenly Lily got a feeling that something would go _terribly_ wrong if Mira touched that package.

"Mira!" she yelled. "Don't touch it!" She began to sprint toward Mira, who had looked at her and was watching in confusion.

The package was just about to land in Mira's still-outstretched hands when Lily tackled her and sent them both skidding about 15 feet away from the package.

And it was a good thing, because as the package touched the floor, it exploded, sending sparks of flames all around it in about a 10-foot radius. If Mira had caught the package, her hands would have been badly burned, not to mention random spots where sparks would have landed on her.

Mira looked up from the floor and gaped. "Lily, what the—how did you know it would explode?"

"I didn't," Lily said nervously. "I just got a feeling."

People in the Hall were staring at the burnt spot on the floor. In the middle of it, the remains of the brown paper were burned and curled up by the heat.

Mira and Lily both got up from the floor. "Sorry about tackling you," Lily said.

"No problem. I wouldn't have gotten out of the way otherwise," Mira said. She was shaking. "I guess I know who sent me that, then."

"What? Who?"

"Voldemort," Mira said quietly. "I can't think of anyone else who wants to hurt me that badly. The only thing I can't figure out is _why._"

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A/N: Well, that was longer than the last one. Tell me if it still wasn't long enough for you! :D

So…what was that last scene all about, you ask? Find out in the next chapter…

Review!

--Hermione21


	11. Psychics and Research

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The Marauders of Hogwarts

A/N: Hm, thanks for the…no reviews, everyone! :D

If someone's reading this, please review. It helps me write faster if I know that someone actually cares whether I do or not. This has been proven by my not updating for a month or so. Lol._Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, places, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, the best writer EVER!!! And I mean EVER! All the characters, places, etc. that you don't recognize belong to me. Get it, got it, good._

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Chapter 11

Psychics and Research

People in the Hall were staring at the burnt spot on the floor. In the middle of it, the remains of the brown paper were burned and curled up by the heat.

Mira and Lily both got up from the floor. "Sorry about tackling you," Lily said quietly.

"No problem. I wouldn't have gotten out of the way otherwise," Mira said, speaking quietly as well. They didn't want anyone to hear their conversation. She was shaking. "I guess I know who sent me that, then."

"What? Who?"

"Voldemort," Mira said quietly. "I can't think of anyone else who wants to hurt me that badly. The only thing I can't figure out is why."

Lily stared. "How can you not figure that out? You're a Spirit Healer."

"Well, yes," Mira said, "but he only wants to hurt me because I keep helping you—Oh crap." She clapped her hand over her mouth. She hadn't wanted to make Lily feel guilty. But she was confused because she didn't understand why Voldemort thought Lily was so important in the first place. He didn't know about the prophecy, did he? And even if he did, the prophecy said nothing about any of them defeating Voldemort…

People were staring at Lily now. There was dead silence.

"Honestly," Lily said loudly, trying to talk in an airy, matter-of-fact tone. "Have you people never seen something explode before?" And she walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down with Mira, with everyone staring at her even more than before.

* * *

"It's because he knows Evans will never join him," Venyetta said, looking into her crystal ball, alone in the room, "and she has too much potential to be ignored. It has just become evident that she is some kind of seer! And he also wants to destroy her because she is Muggle-born."

Sometimes Venyetta felt rather sorry for Evans and the Spirit Healer, even though Evans was Muggle-born. For twelve year olds, they were quite brave—though their bravery was foolish. They were Gryffindors, after all. However, she knew that if she voiced this opinion, Voldemort would be extremely angry—at the very least. She still didn't trust him one bit, even though he trusted her with a high position among his followers. After a year, he still called her by her stage name, Venyetta, because she still hadn't told him her real one.

* * *

Later in the day, the Amazons and Marauders were sitting in the Gryffindor common room, talking about what had happened at breakfast. "You should tell Dumbledore about it, Lily," Bella said.

"Why should I tell him about the package? He saw. He was in the Great Hall with the rest of us," Lily said, confused.

"I meant about you knowing about it before it happened," Bella said.

"Geez, get a brain, Evans." James said, rolling his eyes. "What else would she be talking about?" Lily smacked him in the head. "Ouch!"

"You two are so cute together!" Thea exclaimed, beaming. They both gave her death glares and moved away from each other.'

"Anyway, maybe I'll tell Dumbledore," Lily said, trying to ignore the sniggering from everyone but James. She would never like James as more than a friend. He was too bigheaded. She remembered the first time she'd met him and nearly laughed out loud. What a prat, acting like he knew everything.

"I think you should," Mira said, trying to speak seriously in between laughs.

* * *

Lily had never been to Dumbledore's office by herself before. She stared at the two gargoyles, wondering what the password was.

"Erm…Fizzing Whizbees?" No movement.

"Sugar Quill. Chocolate Frog. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans." The gargoyles refused to move. "Erm…I am a sexy hott mama," Lily said sarcastically. The gargoyles sprang aside to reveal the moving staircase. Lily blinked. "WHAT? That _can't_ be the password!"

"It isn't, but we decided to take pity on you," one of the gargoyles said, in a deep, grating voice.

Lily's mouth opened in shock. "I didn't know you could talk!"

"Well, it's a magic school, what did you expect?"

Lily just shook her head and stepped onto the staircase. "Well, thanks, anyway," she called behind her as the doorway closed.

After a bit, she got to the door of Dumbledore's office and knocked on it.

"Come in."

Lily slowly pushed open the door. To her surprise, Mira was already in there, talking with Professor Dumbledore. She stopped as Lily came in.

"Oh, hi, Lily!" she said.

"Hello, Miss Evans," Dumbledore said. "Miss Gonzalez here has just been telling me more about that package she received. She also tells me that you somehow knew that no one should touch the package…"

"Yes, Professor," Lily said, "that's why I came. I just suddenly got a very bad feeling, and I knew I had to stop her from catching the package…Do you think I could be some kind of psychic, Professor?"

"I think it's quite possible, Miss Evans," Dumbledore replied. "I suggest you sign up for Divination next year. Cassandra Trelawney, our Divination teacher, is an extremely talented seer, and she could help you develop whatever potential you might have. Have you heard of her?" (A/N: No, I don't mean the Trelawney that Harry has, I mean her grandmother, who got mentioned in the fifth book.)

"No, 'fraid not," Lily said.

"Well, no matter," the headmaster said cheerfully. "Thank you both for telling me all this. You may go now."

Lily and Mira exited the office.

"You know what, Fawkes?" Dumbledore said to his pheonix. "I'm getting too old for this. All these prophecies and dark lords and everything…"

* * *

As Lily and Mira walked back to Gryffindor Tower, Lily said, "Mira, you know how it was Voldemort who sent you that package?"

"Yes," Mira said uneasily. She thought she knew where this was going.

"Well, you said that…he only wants to hurt you because you're helping me," Lily said.

Mira nodded. She'd been right about where it was going. She'd been so stupid to blurt that out…

"Why didn't you tell me that before?!" Lily cried.

"Well, I just didn't want you to feel like it was your fault…" Mira said. "I mean, he'd probably be interested in me anyway since I'm a Spirit Healer."

"But Mira…I don't want you to get hurt just because you've helped me!"

"Really," Mira said, forcing herself to sound unconcerned, "it doesn't matter. And I'm not going to stop helping you! Do you really think I'm going to leave you to Voldemort?"

Lily looked at Mira's stubborn face and sighed. "Well, no. But I just wish Voldemort had never bothered with me. I don't even know why I'm so important. I mean, I'm "the One of Jewels" in that prophecy, but what good does that do me? It's not like I've got any special skills."

"Well, you just found out you're some kind of seer…I'd say that's a special skill," Mira said with a soft laugh.

"Oh, you're right!" Lily said, surprised. "But having a _reason_ for Voldemort to attack me doesn't really make me feel any better."

"Well, no," Mira said, laughing. "I don't suppose it would…"

* * *

The Marauders and Mira had been researching Animagi for two weeks. Well, actually, more like James, Sirius, and Remus were researching after they finished their homework, Mira was coming in the library to chat and flip through a few books with them every now and then, and Peter was copying their homework while they researched. (A/N: Since he's too stupid to do it on his own…heh.) But whatever.

They hadn't found much. There weren't many books on Animagi, actually, considering the total amount of books in the library. There was a book that listed all the known Animagi in history, a few biographies of people who had been Animagi, and several books that explained what Animagi were. But none of those books helped them, and they couldn't find any that explained how to become an Animagus.

"I'm so tired of not finding anything," James grumbled one day, rumpling up his hair in frustration.

"Tell me about it," Sirius grumbled back.

Just then, Mira came in. " 'Lo, Sirius, James," she said, giving Sirius a hug as she sat down next to him. "How's the research going?" She picked up a book from the stack in the middle of the table.

"Not too well," Remus sighed.

"Still haven't found anything useful?"

"Nope. Are you sure you don't know _anything_ about how to become an Animagus?" Sirius said.

"Well…" She wrinkled her forehead in thought. "Have you tried looking in advanced spell books and potions books and things? I mean, it's got to be either a complicated potion or a really hard spell, since people find it so difficult. I doubt you'll find what you're looking for in books like…" She looked at the book she'd picked up. "…Like _The Day I Turned Into a Canary for an Hour_. That sounds like someone played a prank on the person who wrote the book…"

"Well, actually, we looked in a couple," James said. "But we didn't find anything."

"Well, a couple isn't enough!" Mira cried. "It's not going to be in every advanced spellbook! Let's find some of those then!"

She jumped up and ran off among the shelves, looking at the books closely.

"Honestly, Sirius, that girlfriend of yours is much too excited about researching things," James said.

My girlfriend, Sirius mused. _Who knew I'd have one? And I've had her for _two months_! Geez…_

"She just wants to help," he said, laughing. "I mean, have you seen her when she's doing homework? She grumbles if she has to open a single textbook!"

"Much like you," Remus said, grinning.

"Oh, sod off, Remus," Sirius said, but he grinned back.

"What? Homework?" Peter squeaked, startled out his copying concentration as he heard the dreaded word. "There isn't more of it, is there?"

"No, Peter," James sighed. "Just what you're copying there."

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A/N: Well, this chapter's done (finally)! In the next chapter, the Marauders will research some more (but I'll let you guess if they find anything), and…some other stuff will happen. I'm probably going to end this in a chapter or two, so yay, I'm almost done! I doubt I'll write a third one though, since I've got no reviewers anymore…But review if you want a sequel, and I'll consider it! And even if you don't want a sequel, REVIEW if you're reading this!! It makes me feel loved. :D 


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